4/28/2025, 2:45 AM
cloud lash watched, breath held small in her chest as the stranger accepted the plant. she shifted her weight lightly, paws brushing the earth in nervous rhythm, but when they coughed and then smiled — even a little — her ears lifted.
encouraged, she touched a paw to her own chest, feeling the steady drum of her heart beneath her fur. carefully, so the meaning would not be lost, she pointed again, then spoke, soft and round in the common tongue she barely owned:
her name. the shape of it carried like a leaf caught on the breeze, fragile and honest.
cloud lash smiled in return — small, almost shy, but bright as a sun-warm feather — and dipped her head in a gesture of peace, of offering. she did not know all their words, but kindness spoke well enough.
encouraged, she touched a paw to her own chest, feeling the steady drum of her heart beneath her fur. carefully, so the meaning would not be lost, she pointed again, then spoke, soft and round in the common tongue she barely owned:
nuvts’eyaȟa.
her name. the shape of it carried like a leaf caught on the breeze, fragile and honest.
cloud lash smiled in return — small, almost shy, but bright as a sun-warm feather — and dipped her head in a gesture of peace, of offering. she did not know all their words, but kindness spoke well enough.