"Not since Carthak," Daine says with a slow shake of her head. After all that mess, she'd have expected to enjoy not catching any of the gods' attention for a while. But it's been so long, now, that if the Graveyard Hag tried to meddle with her again, Daine would be half-inclined to hug her just for showing up.

She turns the silver claw between her fingertips, frowning. "I know the Badger loses track of time, but it's not like him to take so long between visits." In fact, she's fair certain he hasn't simply lost track of time or gotten distracted. If none of her mortal friends know she's gone - and if Kitten hasn't picked up on it - is it really such a leap to think that the gods haven't noticed, either? Maybe Alanna's from a realm where Daine never disappeared in the first place, and Goddess knows how much work it would be for them to retrieve her and get her back to whatever realm she's actually missing from.

"I don't think they can hear me," she concludes, tucking the claw back beneath her shirt.