she sinks to the ground beside him, enjoying their familiarity, and proceeds to tell him what she knows of the peak. she tells him of inka, who invited her to share the mountain home, of oswin and her little filly who was likely grown now…of wasp and her mother… she smiled sadly, happy to think of them but reminded of how empty the peak was now. were they ok? would they return?

she was disappointed that in the end she had failed to protect them all, failed to be the glue that held the place together but she felt hard resolve forming in her heart not to let the land remain empty. she would be waiting to welcome any newcomers or familiar faces and in the meantime she and kunžak would enjoy staying in one place for a while.

as their conversation begins to lull she finds herself becoming drowsy. her eyes gaze out over the forests and meadows below and she tries not to think of home. the old home. the true home. in some ways the land can seem so alike, as if she were to journey back down the mountain into the sea of trees she would happen upon her rodina standing together joking about where she had gone… would see her brothers teasing each other or her mother staring lovingly up at her father as she often did. her eyes glaze at the thought and she gives her head a slight shake, blinking away the daydream before it can do more harm. her heart pangs wretchedly but the ache subsides when she forces her eyes back to the black form beside her. she breathes more steadily and allows her eyes to rest on the shape of his face for a moment before she lowers her chin to the ground to rest. her family had prepared her to face so much but never life without them… she is grateful, so grateful, for kunžak but for a moment she wishes she were alone. so that she could weep openly. instead she draws a shaky breath and utters three words. i miss them. she knows, without saying, that he will understand who she speaks of. not the fleeting faces of those she had known here…. but all those who had come before. who she knew she had no chance of seeing again