Astrid popped her jaw and turned her head halfway. Had someone walked up? She caught sight of something white—Icetales, maybe?—and completed her turn. She didn’t want to concern anyone.
“…That is your name, right?”
The world’s rotation stopped on her behalf, or so it seemed. It was incredible how quickly she forgot about the Radiance, Truffle, or the pines. It was all irrelevant, all from another era. She was back now. Back on the mountain.
Her brother stepped closer. His paw tentative, uncertain. Caring? Deceptive. “I think I know you from somewhere and why are you doing that—hey!”
Astrid’s nose was inching towards the dirt at an exponential rate. No. No. She cursed at Diyem, not expecting a response. Why did you bring him here? Why did you bring him here? How could you have possibly—
White splashed across her vision as the descent met its end. Her face rested upon the grass in an unexpectedly comfortable position. Sparkles of colors flashed here and there, but for the most part she simply didn’t use her (closed) eyes at all, ceding instead to the noise.
Somehow. Some way. That bastard was the one whose memory had never grown hazy. Her parents? They had faces, but that was it: just faces. The others? Some of them were a little clearer, maybe because of a funny thing they’d said when she was a kit. As for the rest, she could barely remember their names. But it was Myles that was delivered to her now in Cibus, and it was Myles that looked and talked exactly like she’d remembered. The briefest of eye contact was all it took to read him, too. She’d caught it, somewhere in his eye—did she not? She had! She was sure of it. That condescending glare. It was him.
A breath clawed its way into her lungs. Well deserved… kind of. She was the one who’d fallen on her face, and in realizing as much, fought to stand up. “I’m okay, I’m okay, I—” just fucking fainted, “—I-I’m good. I’m… good.” She refused to look up.
