Maheegan bared her teeth in a wolfish manner, enraged, her neck hairs standing on end. She spun around to argue, but Kiyiya had already run off into a hut and she knew better than to follow. She stood there and fumed for a while. [i]What a nerve. What a nerve! Ugh![/i] She wanted to yell that she wasn't finished with him, to come back and not be a coward, but the words stuck in her throat. 

Finding that her legs worked again, she trotted irritably to the edge of the village and then scrambled through the forest and sat on a rotting log. Alone here, she put her head in her hands. She was [i]not[/i] afraid of people! She just... didn't talk much, that was all. But Kiyiya's words echoed in her head. [i]Everyone thinks you're some kind of mute freak.[/i] That coming from Maheegan's only friend stung bad. 

She cried softly after making sure that no one was around.