"So, they are like a group of Treeminders?" Tunxeek asked. Believing he was starting to understand.

Sabine shook her head. "No Hist."

"Oh, of course," Tunxeek responded, reminding himself of what his father had taught him about the outside world. Sometimes he forgot that the Hist were not part of the lives of other cultures. He and his village were so entwined with it that he was used to it being a fact of life. How quiet and lonely it must be outside of the marsh. "Why did you leave them?"

Sabine took a sip and considered telling more, but her mind had flashes of bad memories and she shook her head to rid herself of them and to decline Tunxeek. "I don't... want to talk about it." She said quietly.

Tunxeek nodded understandlingly. "Okay, sorry." He took another sip of tea, feeling a little awkward, then thought of something else to ask. He was still a little curious about what witches were. "Meesei, are you a witch?"

---

Janius leaned against Kaleeth in turn, enjoying taking the moment to calm. The small breathing of the napping wamasu hatchling in his arms was oddly soothing. "I wouldn't have a clue how to tell for most lizards. Well, you'll find out one day, I'm sure. You may even have to release it back into the wild if it gets too aggressive, unless maybe if you neuter it. Wouldn't have a clue how to do that either. I'd say there's a lot to learn."

For only knowing each other for a few days, Fendros noticed Kaleeth and Janius' closeness as he sat across from them. Their love seemed to be a different event to Ahnasha and Fendros'; Janius and Kaleeth were drawn to one another very quickly, while Fendros and Ahnasha's manifested over a longer period of time. Well, he couldn't be surprised. After all, they were different people in different circumstances. He just wished they didn't have to share the tragedy of inevitable separation, even if Fendros and Ahnasha's case was many years away.

Now that Leaps-On-Elves had been handed over safely, Fendros took a moment to recollect what he was doing before. He looked at Ahnasha with a smile, "Want to continue the painting?"