Dragoncrest Cliffs you got a boy like him, a man like me

aye, the sea witch. val afforded a short lived smile that scarcely reached the wistful edge of his eyes.

he told her everything he knew; the bits and pieces he’d learned from rosalyn, the small parts of erzulie’s life she’d shared with him - of how they’d fought tooth and claw to keep their home; how they were chased up the coast by a bear; and when they settled at the throat of ankyra, how the oppressive thumb of drageda pressed down upon them. he told her stories of their victories and their defeats, of the slaughter of shardik and the butchering of sobo — of chasing the bear out into the hinterlands. and then, he told her his own life experiences too; how that had filled in the gaps and given context to the many open chasms he’d felt in his life growing up.

he noticed sobeille was silent the duration he spoke. while this was not unusual, val could sense there were a thousand thoughts circling behind those circumspect yellow eyes.

sobeille, he started gently, reaching for a tactful way to say his piece: what has inspired all this interest?