Dragoncrest Cliffs I put my hands in the fire

val stopped his digging twice: first, when rosalyn's low growl cut through them -- and second, when chacal nudged him and for a moment he caught a glimpse of true gratitude ringing her gaze.

he resumed, his back obstinately to rosalyn. being called a child did little to indulge his feelings of generosity towards both parents -- his gaze flickered back to chacal to see if she too caught that little barb.

but he was a child! he was their child! they should know -- they should be implicitly aware -- of how they had hurt their children. even though val was gifted with gab, he couldn't work his tongue in a way that could express that satisfactorily.

with a sigh, val pushed aside the earth and turned slowly back to rosalyn. val had never so much as insulted either of his parents -- but in this moment, a rogue adolescent streak speared through them and for a confusing second, he wanted to hurt them as much as they hurt him and chacal.

that urge passed, but val still felt incensed in its wake. "we are children." val pointed out, his voice tight. "yours." he sniffed nervously, a curiously high pitch coming to his voice . "why didn't you let chacal race! and why did you do it on the water? how could you?" his final words came not as a question, but an accusation -- for val had been deeply aggrieved by that action in particular, and how both had been complicit in humiliating him and chacal in public.