The End of the World

His answer confirmed what was already heavily implied, prompting a small nod from the woman. It was followed by a grin. The expression still seemed odd when made around those protruding tusks, but even so it was clearly genuine. She wondered vaguely how it was he spoke around those strange teeth? He would turn the question back to her however, and that gave Kuwindwa pause. Her first habit was to dodge questions; she had become very skillful at evading personal identifying information, but she would try. Tonight, she would try. So she hesitated, but when she answered it was in an agreeable way, still blunted in her usual manner but not unkind:

"Yes, I come from-" she paused thoughtfully, considering how far her journey had taken her, how lost she might be, "-not far enough away." The stone face cracked again, a smile almost breaking through again. If the barest effort at humor would help deflect the way her heart ached, then so be it. Still, something in the flicker of expression was off, and she tilted her head just the slightest bit gaze back to the moon as if it might give her some small piece of advice. The next time she spoke, only her eyes moved, flicking to Áki so she could just see him in the corner of her vision. "I do not believe even the end of the world will be far enough," she said with a motion of her tail to indicate the sea - her "end of the world."

Kuwindwa swung her muzzle back to the giant; she was more than just a little rusty at making conversation. She had never been very good at small talk even before she had wandered alone. But she was making an effort here. "There is nothing like this where I came from: it was all forests... the musty scent of pine, the whispering of wind through leaves in the summer, the deer plentiful..." She had to stop. Her chest clenched painfully. Only her eyes changed as she described her home: the living wolf that hid behind the dying shell appeared briefly as she spoke before being smothered again behind a mask. "I have never seen so much water in one place."