Sun Mote Copse The Art of the Dinner Date

Even before Wraen answered, Sugar thought back on all the various plants she'd carried in her mouth. Many were tasteless, aside from a touch of earthiness on her tongue. Others left more of an imprint, never a good one. One or two greens were downright bitter as bile. So she wasn't particularly surprised when the Sovereign said that no, most plants weren't palatable. Nor were they intended to be part of a carnivore's diet, though she explained some circumstances where imbibing foliage might be necessary.

Her beady black eyes followed the leader's movement as she neared another evergreen and pulled something loose, a growth of some kind. Sugar studied it even as she listened to Wraen explain, then looked up and blinked at the closing remark. Why would someone want to trick their belly like that, only to end up dead? She turned that whole idea over in her head in silence, chewing the inside of her cheek as she contemplated.

A thought struck her suddenly and she found herself smiling. "I try to learn at least one new thing every day," she told Wraen by way of explanation, "and I learned a week's worth of new things today. Maybe even a month's!" Sugar wasn't too good at telling time, though that wasn't the point. She ducked her head in deference to the Sovereign and all the knowledge she'd imparted on the young naturalist today.