2024-07-12 - new worries, old fears |5.2|

Mother aches. Knuadth aches with her.

These are not all body aches, like the odd twinge when Knuadth nudges up against the crumpled end of his shell. They overflow from her thoughts, drifting on cold and distant currents far, far ahead, where he cannot follow. But they are fearful, and Knuadth is fearful too - that everything has changed, and will change again, and it will never be the same again, it will never be good, it will never be safe.

Issrodeth is like the comforting embrace of the sands, before the earth tried to swallow them all. She too might be gone forever, and Mother is afraid of that. But even afraid, she is already thinking, planning, preparing for what might come next, and what she must do.

Knuadth curls tighter, floating like a wisp amidst all these concerns and drifting further away, back to his own private aches. At least he does not have to do anything.