Wapun Meadow no diggity, no doubt

For all the misunderstanding that children did, they were also frightfully intelligent in their own way. For example, Dragomir understood only about half of what Vercingetorix was telling him. The rest was either words or concepts beyond his current understanding. But he read the emotions and the body language with quick, accurate eyes and his frown morphed into a pout.

Why no take us? Dragomir demanded to know, glancing to his sister for support. It was all well and good that Daddy wanted to find them a cool new place to live by the sea, and it was interesting to Dragomir that they belonged there, but that still didn't explain why he left them behind. Why he let their mother hurt in his absence. Why he let them hurt in his absence.

For now Dragomir's sense of betrayal was just that: the sadness of a boy whose father was distant. Who knew how long it would be before that turned to anger? Coming with, he firmly decided, just like his sister. Dragomir loved Diaspora. He loved the lake and the sky-water and the thicket and the wolves there. But he loved his missing father more than all those things, even if Vercingetorix was kind of a dick for leaving them.