Jade Fern Grove he's got looks that books take pages to tell

Alexander paid attention as he was spoken to, not wanting to miss out on learning any of the words. The next two to be given were ones that he doubted he'd ever use, but he'd appreciated being taught them anyways. "Denada and gracias," he'd repeated back, not quite getting the accent right. He'd English-ified the words, more or less, the accent used to properly speak them being something that he'd definitely need to work on. "I can remember," he'd added then, taking the question seriously despite the tone used to speak it. He wasn't really the joking type, the humour of others being yet another thing that he'd need to work on learning.

Rather than being told to stay, his need to return just once more had been encouraged. It was the right thing to do, that he knew, but there was more to it than just that. He couldn't allow for himself to be labeled as a traitor, lest he wish to never see his family again. On neutral grounds, perhaps doing so would be safe for him either way, but he didn't want to put them in any danger by doing so. No, he had to make sure that everything was taken care of properly, that way he might be able to salvage that which he'd liked about the woods. With that settled, he'd directed his attention to the latter of the sentences, ears having perked up slightly. "You guys won't leave?" the boy had asked, the notion being something that he had a hard time understanding. For Xan, it was normal for others to leave, and so he was taken off guard by the idea that the opposite might happen this time around; even though it'd been decided that they'd remain within the grove, he hadn't been able to prevent himself from thinking previously that they might all sneak off in the night and leave him there alone.

In a matter of seconds, he'd been forced to stop, legs then pushing him back a few paces as the other male lurched forward. One moment Sriracha had been upright and walking, and the second he'd been eating dirt—the Inuit now knew what linked him to Ocra. It was with caution that he'd proceeded forward when spoken to, not wanting to trip and fall. He'd been successful in doing so, too, allowing him to inspect the opening without the taste of dirt in his mouth. "Do you think there's more like it around here?" Xan questioned, noticing it's size. It would be enough for one, but not multiple, which meant that they'd need to find more.