Dragoncrest Cliffs Anglerfish

The girl who had been so talkative was gravely quiet. She continued pushing against her work, trying to force it down into the sand as deep as she could. Only her ears gave any indication that she might have been listening to him. All of it compounded together had made Swordfish feel frightfully out of place. His inability to address his feelings had started to form a problem, had made him unreliable emotionally. This was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do in his young life.

When the branch snapped, Swordfish jerked violently. His legs kicked up sand, skirting marks where he had stood. The seafarer’s ears splayed. Suzu didn’t seem to react to the breaking of her target. She simply turned to fix him with a withering stare and a pursing of her lips that made her whiskers move toward him – expectant.

What had he even been saying?

Su, ah… I dunno-

Damn the words and their forming! Swordfish could feel his frustration spike.

I’m sorry, y’know. But I dunno what fer…

Swordfish didn’t understand why she’d reacted so strongly about an animal he was going to eat with Quennell. The sharpness of her anger and the weight of her cries had been too much. He had no ability to remain there and learn what the creature had meant to her.

So, I dunno if it’s a real sorry. Can it be? Did that even make sense to her? Did she care?