Larksong Grotto I don't want to be king, I just want to sing a love song

Her story of little Currituck warms him further. It is nice to know she cares for children as he does, for truthfully this season has brought into light a stronger desire to bear his own young that he did not think he had. Age finally catching to him, perhaps, or a better understanding of himself and what he cares for. (This is, of course, quite presumptuous on his part, and more forward-thinking than he tends to be, so as quickly as he finds he is relieved he abandons the thought.)

Mirabelle's description is an alarm bell in his head. There is little doubt that she refers to Blackfeather Woods, for what other dark forests lay to the south? But he wonders from what they are fleeing: they'd won the war months ago, driven them from their homes. Had they returned and met some other unfortunate fate?

"I see," he says, expression drawn but not betraying his thoughts, yet. "I once lived in a dark wood to the south. Perhaps the very same," the titan murmurs at length, the most he will dwell. At either rate, "it would be good to meet your Northerners," he tells her, thinking of pack diplomacy and of establishing reason to visit her once again. After all, "I would like to see you again." And more than again, in fact.