Big Salmon Lake hateraid

His laugh caused any tension she had initially felt to fade as she loosed a stupidly girlish giggle—it was a sound she had never before produced, but a direct result of the way his laugh had made her feel. Rian's face seemed different, too, and the observant Hydra felt oddly warm. And as he spoke again, Hydra nodded. Hydra understood all sorts of magical beasts; they had a father who inspired their imagination, and Lyra and Alya were imaginative themselves. Hydra was the least creative of the three, but aware of the beasts they had fashioned by way of their explanations. 

When Rian snorted, Hydra pursed her lips and looked away, feeling flushed. Frustrated more with herself and her question than him. She could think of nothing clever to bite back at him for making her feel silly, and now was perhaps the only time she did want to run away. Who knew a snort could make one feel so humiliated? 

He did her the favor of responding, at least, and when he did she looked back to him. Though she felt all the more self-conscious, she mustered up the courage to ask, Y'don't like where you live? That came as a surprise to her; Hydra adored her own home, though, and so could not imagine that anyone might not like where they had come from.