Wapun Meadow ❝a kiss cannot reach her through the incrusting ivory.

Verx let out an exasperated snort at her first response, shaking his head. It went on like a metronome, back and forth. At her soil remark, a nasty rejoinder bubbled up in his throat, but he kept it down. Probably for the best.

Oh, ok, so she had attacked first. Fucking fantastic. And she'd been lucky to have help out there. Luck is what she'd fallen into; others had been less lucky, and he knew it well.

What I would have you do is let Mahler fetch his own fucking herbs! Verx snapped. What I would have you do is stop worrying about my fucking throat! And maybe what I would have you do is have you home instead of out battling with strangers, so that Drago could have milk instead of, oh I dunno, eating fucking soil!

Whoops. There it was.

He felt uneasy for a moment, knowing he'd crossed a line, but he kept his eyes trained on her. I couldn't even find you up there; I had to follow your scent down here, he snarled. And now I'm going back up and I hope you come with, because neither I nor your brother have teats and the kids have gotta suckle, probably really fucking soon.

Vercingetorix didn't really know what all went into motherhood. All he could see right now was that Aure had shirked her biological duties, put herself in danger, and, even more aggravatingly, seemed blithely unaware of it all. There was no reasoning with that.

He turned and trotted away, beginning the trek up into the mountains again.