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Dena closes her eyes for a moment, breathing in and steadying herself. "Of course, of course. It was selfish of me to even think about something like that now of all times. I'm sorry, Klel, I hope you can forgive me. I know the timing could have been better, but after seeing what we saw last night…I just didn't want to wait any longer to ask. Knowing that something like that is waiting for us out there…I want to make everything I can of each day. What was it that Elder Ahote says…'Carpe Diem'?"
She pauses. "I'll admit, I think I'm just saying anything to keep from thinking about it…. I want so badly for it to be a bad dream." She slumps down into a kitchen chair, dropping her half-eaten breakfast onto the table with a clatter.
"Why would they do it, Klel? Why would our mothers and fathers, our elders and packmates let the humans do that to them? I don't…I don't understand."
You try to comfort her, but there's little you can say. You feel lost in a way that you haven't felt since your mother passed away all those years ago, as though your innocence has been torn away for a second time, leaving only burning raw flesh for grim reality to scour.
If this is what it means to become an adult, you want nothing of it. But there's no turning back time, is there? you think. We can only make the best of the time that we have.
Dena breathes deep, composing herself into a mask of serenity, a crack in the facade here and there. Slightly reddened eyes, an uncertain twitch at the edge of her smile. But it should suffice to fool the adults.
"We should get going," she says. "We'll be expected at our lessons soon and we don't want to give Instructor Lonan any reason to think we've been up to anything unusual."