Mudminnow River every hermit crab needs a shell

watching the great paws strop the ground suggested that lestan might let go of what had been plaguing him in self-deprecation — at least in part. and so he slowly built another pile of grass, though this time he let his paw drift over the green and held it there.
soft against his palm, this sensation soothed him somewhat. "i l-like frederick," lestan ventured, hoping he would not overmuch offend the other's overture of goodwill. yet he could not help the glissade of tension which rode his shoulders for a moment; was this some subtle disdain of the speech pattern he was unable to fight?
frederick's notion of akavir as a lad amused lestan, who chose not to correct the traveler's assumption. let him say such even to the mayfair cousin; it might be a great amusement to them all in the end. "c-come to the cr-creek. w-wait th-there with m-me. it sh-shouldn't be l-long before th-they're back. i c-could h-help you — in the m-meantime."
quite a lot to offer, and yet lestan had little else; any aspirations he'd had of being a conversationalist were long faded by the years of his tripwire tongue.
to his dismay, the patch of grass beneath his paws was quite bare now, and in consternation the mayfair ceased his idle destruction.