no matter where you go, there you are

She busied herself straightening the failing supports on the beachside structure, prodding them deeper into the sand until they stood tall once more. The canvas was torn and tattered, flapping in the wind. Where she could, Makara tightened it so that it hung strong and woven larger banana leaves in between the smaller holes in the canvas. She worked in silence for a time, enraptured by her task, even with Lumine standing beside her.

That was another habit she'd forgotten about while travelling alone: how to be polite. Eventually, as if she'd been stung by a bee, Makara stood straight up and said: "Oh goodness, here I go, getting carried away again. I bet you didn't even catch my name over all those leaves shoved in my mouth. I'm Makara, Lumine - very, very nice to meet another traveler in these parts!" The words came in a busy flood, as they always did with Makara. Once she had patched up the tent sufficiently, Makara flopped down beneath it. "Careful, yes... I've always had to be careful. And clever."

Thoughts of her angry father returned to her unbidden. His disappointed face when she could barely walk on grass in the springtime, her paws so swollen from an allergic reaction that they were three times their regular size. His disgust, the first time she'd gotten badly burned. "It teaches you resilience." For once, the flow of her words was stemmed as she appeared lost in thought. "But, tell me, what brings you out to this island?"

Speech