Epigraph:
… the wrecked thing that could
not bear the light nor hide
hobbled in its own blood.
—Gwen Harwood, ‘Father and Child: I. Barn Owl’
Author's note:
‘The name Subaru is Japanese, meaning “unite”. It’s also a term for a cluster of six stars in the Taurus constellation, named Pleiades by the Ancient Greeks’ (https://www.subaru.com.au/about/meaning-subaru)