Dragoncrest Cliffs Rhondonite

portia would talk about the previous day in coming time, but unless he asked, now was not that time.

he agreed to a walk, padding beside her without any complaints. he asked about her foot, and portia shook her head. "no," she replied with a small smile, "it's just stiff-- doesn't work the way it used to." and it was true. a broken limb did not always heal properly, and it was not always the healers fault. 

and then, to her surprise, dacio mentioned he was worried about her. portia looked at her son with her ears pricked. she was quiet, for a moment, and then said-- matching his language-- "about me?" and then she shook her head, "what for, little sprout?" but she could have guessed it was about dalia, and how down she had been in the most recent weeks. and so she gave a gentle sigh, and made to fix this.

"i've had my time to grieve-- it was harder on me than i should have allowed it," she continued on, ears flicking, but her green gaze settling upon him, "i should not have let you all see me so down-- it was not fair to you, and i'm sorry i've been such a poor mother in that regard. but i have accepted dalia's leave now, i will be stronger, just as all of you have.[b]"[/b] her lips curled into a smile, and she reached to nudge his cheek.