Shepherd’s End
1015
She loved her mother with a desperate, childish longing, but her respect could not weather the frank astonishment Michka displayed on returning to Shepherd’s End and found they had not remained exactly as she had left them.
All her dreams of her mother’s return scattered beneath the bellows of the fight - her mother yelling, her father’s voice almost inaudible save for the occasional carrying hiss. Yevhetsek and Zakhal crept into her bed for comfort as they hadn’t in years, and for hours, they held each other, she and Yev staring at nothing while Zak cried silently, tears leaking soundless down his cheeks and drenching her pillow. Eventually she rose, pulling them along, and they crept out the window and shimmied down the rocky wall to seek refuge in the alpaca barn.
Ash and Ember were there, as well. In mutual accord, they helped each other up into the hayloft. Only then, the fight inaudible over the distance and the sleepy grumbles of the animals, did Yev and Zak fall asleep.
Xalati waited until their breathing had evened out before rising again. She caught the gleam of Ember’s eyes as she stepped over him as quietly as she could. He said nothing, but simply nodded once and closed his eyes again.
Grateful, she sneaked out and went to the Wanderlust to get drunk.
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