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Her ear flicked, once, at the sound of Sindri's whine, and Bragi's head turned ever so slightly in her direction as she sidled up beside her. Her expression faltered for just a moment, rippling with the horrible wave of guilt, regret, and self-loathing that washed over her in that moment.

The wolf family didn't deserve this. Didn't deserve to be saddled with an awful, anti-social daughter stuck — desperate and pining — beneath two unknown worlds, not truly belonging to one or the other.

She'd give them back their real sister if she could, if only she knew how. She'd give her back in a heartbeat.

Bragi looked down at her paws and closed her eyes.

And then opened them.

The stars aren't familiar to me.

Huh?

What did she just say?

She went stock still, a buzzing in her ears as she stared without seeing down at the ground. She remembered the first time she'd looked up into the sky, and realized she didn't recognize the stars glittering so many millions of miles above her. She remembered the first time she'd realized this world was different, she was different, and she didn't belong here.

...Did that mean Sindri was the same?

Did you like it better... before?

There was no hiding the change in her expression, this time. No fixing the open shock and disbelief that widened her eyes and parted her jaws as she drew in a long, shaky breath. Then another, and another, and another. No matter how many she took, she just couldn't get enough air into her lungs. It felt like she had sprung a leak, like she was being drained faster than she could fill them.

I don't... She heard herself speaking, distantly, as if through water. Muffled and hazy and as if she wasn't fully in control. Maybe she wasn't. I don't know. I don't remember, she managed between gasps.


Shakily, she lifted a paw to her nose, checking for blood.

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