Verdant Basin you are the sun and i am just the planets spinning around you.

Niamh didn't leave him hanging all that long, but the few seconds she did seemed like ages. Artaax was patient as he waited, though he did feel the first glimmer of frustration beginning to rise. It seemed impossible that there would be any other hoops he needed to jump through in order to win his prize. Yet, she was stepping away from him in the next moment, and apologizing in the next. Two things that were just plain confusing for the young lion.

Artaax stared at her for a long moment after she spoke. Either due to his youth and naievety or due to the fact that he was Artaax (toss up, really), he had never considered that there was any sort of connection between love and sex. They were each separate things that existed independently of one another. He didn't fully even grasp the concept of love on its own either. He had never once thought about any love he had for his parents or his siblings or his packmates. He was devoted to them, would give his life for them, and would mourn their loss. Those were his truths, and he never stopped to think about what drove him to that level of regard. He just felt how he felt and did what he did.

That's why Niamh's words were utterly baffling to him. She seemed to be denying him physically, but her comments regarded something completely different. What did her loving someone else have to do with anything at all? Artaax furrowed his brow at her, bothered that she was causing him to have to think so damn hard. Even hunting golden eagles wasn't this difficult. "Why?" Artaax asked finally. It seemed like there was probably something better he could've said, or he could've at least helped her out by being a little more specific, but it was hard to find the right words when he was so lost.