Moonspear long in tooth and soul

dirge's answer may have been vague, but arcturus found himself imagining the scene -- and imagining, that somehow, charon had at least been amused.

he hid the smile with a cant of his head, glancing up the pass they climbed. scree and snow claimed most of the uplands, and their little jaunt was not without some navigational difficulties.

his sisters -- arcturus thought of each of their strengths, and their virtues. of his sisters, he was most close with hydra. yama came second, being of his litter. lyra arcturus knew well: she had accompanied him on several expeditions now, and had been most present in his life besides hydra. yet alya, arcturus knew not at all. he supposed if she was anything like his (hers) sisters, he could imagine the things she might have said to dirge in times past.

as for him... arcturus was no actor. he wore his emotions plainly -- and while he tried, in many ways, to be diplomatic -- there was still that undercurrent of genuine feeling that often overtook him. "a good actor would never tell you." he joked, but followed with a toothy grin. "i remember once, thinking maybe father's end would come by you. expecting that maybe one day i would come across the two of you ripping each other to pieces. i never thought things would turn out the way they had." arcturus fell silent quickly thereafter, realizing he had spoken perhaps too much, about too sore a subject, too soon.