The Morning After
Bai Yue stood in the doorway, arms crossed, watching her daughter arrange herself on the floor like a small, stubborn bird building a nest. Zhen had dragged every spare fur she could find across the room, her own sleeping mat, two extra blankets from the storage chest, even the cushion Yàn Shū used for his bad back.
She piled them next to the jaguar cub. Then she sat down. Then she stood up, adjusted everything two inches to the left, and sat down again.
"Are you comfortable?" Bai Yue asked dryly.
"No," Zhen said, not looking up. "But he might be."
The jaguar cub, Tao Zi, had not moved since Glimmer had set them down in the village clearing. He sat with his back against the wall, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around his legs. His dark eyes moved constantly, tracking every sound, every shadow, every person who passed the doorway.
He hadn't eaten. He hadn't slept. He hadn't spoken a full sentence since they had found him.
Bai Yue knew that look.
