Moonstone Quarry hurt me? you can’t — i’ve got mounds of thick skin

He thought Eirlys was a pretty name? The snowdrop couldn’t help but be flattered; she hadn’t interacted with strangers enough to ever suspect he might just be saying it to be nice. She ought to have thanked him for the compliment, but she was so stunned by what he’d said that the chance passed her by and he was already speaking again. Oh, interested, was he? Why on earth did he think such information would be obvious to her? Eirlys wasn’t interesting. She was steady. Dependable. Definitely not given to sneaking off and hanging out in dark caves with wolves she didn’t know.

Ceallach was going to have a heart attack if she didn’t get home soon.

“Obvious, is it?” Eirlys laughed, a sound that started silvery and clear but warmed to a soft copper that colored her teasing rejoinder. “And just how is it supposed to be obvious to me, when we’ve only just met?” They couldn’t even see one another clearly — just vaguely wolfish shapes in a pitch black cavern. What did he really look like? The vague sameness she felt when she was with him was something she wanted to explore — but wasn’t curiosity just a bedfellow of wanderlust? Did she really want to delve that deeply into this? She schooled her face into a series of somber lines, even though he couldn’t see it, and adopted a serious tone as she tried to kick him out and push him away. “There’s nothing down here, you know,” she told him. There we go!

“You’re probably better off going somewhere more worth your time.”

Oh, did I mention? Eirlys was absolute rubbish at subtlety.