or has the the weight of all the years left you hollow? [QUEST]

Caiaphas considered Nishu Inte's venture of an explanation for a moment, correlating it to any other experience in her life. Deer did not have a season, nor did ermine nor stoat. She cast him a brief look that was too clouded to know which emotion overtook it for certain.

But there may have been intelligence to his conclusion, however loathe Caiaphas was to admit it. The sea was a different beast, and the monsters that sprung forth from that watery world were all unknown to her and no different than aliens. Perhaps they had displeased the gods, and this was to be their punishment. But Aktaie had not said anything late of curse or famine -- with a frown scrunching her brow she poked again at one particularly putrid fish. "Or perhaps we have displeased our Mothers."