Ouroboros Spine In the early morning

"Minnow," he said, still peering in the water in an attempt to make out their prey. He couldn't see anything yet, but that was probably best. It gave him better ears to listen with, and he committed the names she spoke to memory. "That's a whole lotta brothers," he commented with a swish of his tail.

The lesson was succinct, which was what Valiant preferred. He watched Ajei handle her rock and glanced around for one to push in on his own. They weren't in danger of running out any time soon, but he couldn't help thinking that they had only a finite number of rocks here. He supposed they could always just pluck them out again when summer came back to the land.

He eyed the exposed water a little more, and then shifted a glance toward the girl to measure her. It seemed as though she would fit without cutting herself, but he was still interested in seeing how she went about it. He didn't want to make a fool of himself in this very first interaction.

"Who taught you all this?" he wondered, keeping his voice low, like he would if they were stalking deer instead.