Grinning and nodding, Serene kept up her steady pace, humming a little under her breath. There was no change that ey could see, though ey imagined her counting deer, rabbits, squirrels, and birds into existence.
For eir part, ey simply walked, hand in paw with May, and marveled. Ey’d discovered the lake decades ago, had spent countless days out here on walks, and at least one night camping. Still, it felt somehow new. Ey was rediscovering this place that ey’d not seen in months — though ey’d spent longer stints away from it in the past — and marveling at the detail all over again. A glance back over eir shoulder showed eir flat-roofed house peeking shyly from amid the trees, but other than that, it was, ey assumed, the same as it had bit.
After so long away and after so much stress it felt all the more real.
-They sat on the rock near the end of the lake and enjoyed the last of the sun. It was a little tight for four, but May tucked quite nicely up against eir side
+They sat on the rock near the end of the lake and enjoyed the last of the sun. It was a little tight for four, but May tucked quite nicely up against eir side and Sasha, having slipped more into an End Waking mindset, had settled off to the side. She looked antsy, and ey suspected she’d request time to hike soon enough.
+“How is the rest of the clade taking this?” she asked. “I sent a clade-wide message, but have not received responses.”
+Serene looked up from where she was investigating a few pine needles plucked from a branch on the way over with a discriminating eye. “I think that reactions will be largely positive. Several of my stanza have been been talking, and many feel as I do. It is fine, I am sure, and I have processed what I needed to and gotten what I wanted.”
+“Of course. I have been abandoned by the rest of my stanza, but at this point, the larger part of me does not want to have anything to do with them, anyway. I do not imagine Loss For Images and her ilk will take it well. I do hope that A Finger Pointing and I will have a chance to speak soon, as I am now enough May that I would enjoy attending a play or two.”
+“‘May’?” Serene said, tiling her head and looking to the other skunk. “Have you forgiven her, then?”
+May nodded. “Forgiven is maybe not the best word. I have internalized the way things are and accepted the way things are. I am pleased to know Sasha and who she has become.”
+The other skunk smiled faintly, nodded. “Though for all Ioan talked about trying to fix things, I place the largest part of who I have become on you, dear.”
+“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Ioan said, grinning.
+May elbowed em in the side. “You know, Debarre said that, were you to take up an Odist name, it would be Where I Am Overcome By Gentle Confusion of the Ode-