[Long description: The Chief doesn’t seem upset by that, but she doesn’t seem comforted, either. Something else is bothering her.

She sits back, and signs: “It doesn’t scare you?”

From this close, her eyes are barely visible underneath her thick hood of hair. They betray her anguish. “Not at all?” She signs.

The R.A. just looks up at her, heartbroken.

She reaches out and grabs the Chief’s huge, taloned hand. It’s so big that it takes both of the R.A.’s hands to manipulate it. She turns it over in her hands, so that the palm is facing towards her.

The R.A. examines the Chief’s claws for a moment. She pulls the Chief’s hand towards her face, and buries her cheek into the crook of her palm.

“No,” The R.A. says.]