Ravensblood Forest passionflower ibex

Behati had never really felt the loss of the mother she had never known, but she did now. It mixed with the hot shame of not knowing - at all - how a mother-child relationship was supposed to function, and exited her mouth in a rumbled "Shut up." By this point, they were about as comfortable in each other's presence as two sparring cats - backs turned, ears back, and postures hunched. Behati didn't really have a response to anything that had been said; she knew about as much as Casmir did on the subject, and the option of shooting him down with a sob story about her sad little motherless childhood didn't appeal at all. She was older than he was - there was no reason why she shouldn't know these things. "Fine," she said after a moment or two, showing every sign of a woman about to beome passive-aggressive. "If you don't want to ask your mom, we can ask some guy with experience. I bet we can find one - just here on the beach!"