Kaleeth's excuse made Janius tilt his head. It took him a moment to notice the way she was inspecting him. A few different possibilities ran through his mind.

He did not respond with more than a look to the spot Kaleeth pointed out before carefully following her to the shore. He crawled up and laid down beside her, leaning the side of his head on his hand and looking at her with as bemused a look as he could manage. "I know that look," he said flatly, "and that smell. You want to try something. Are you sure it's a good idea?"

[hr]
After Calia's little scene, Rhazii, Monderyn, and Shevari were left standing and waiting for the other participants in their archery game. Monderyn took a second to get over his shock, though an idea struck once he realised everyone was so distracted. He leaned across to Rhazii surreptitiously. "How about you fetch the arrows, I have an idea for a joke."

Rhazii lowered his brow. "You do jokes? I mean, I meant no offense, but...you're pretty serious, uncle."

"Trust me," Monderyn looked ahead with his persistent resting frown.

Rhazii glanced away, confused, but walked off to the target anyway.

Fendros and Calia pulled away and rejoined the group quickly enough. Calia's grin was infectious. "See, Llarasa dear? I told you our family has this potential in them, even if they don't realise it at first."

Surprisingly, Llarasa was downcast and low. "Mother, you know I'm not..."

"Oh, never mind," Calia moved on back to Ahnasha's family. "I dare say you are correct, S'nashi. Humble is the right word here. Perhaps it was wrong for me to ever doubt Meesei's abilities. Beast folk have a strong penchant for surprises." She wiped the half-formed tears from her eyes.

"Ahnasha, Fendros, are you ready to prove who is the best archer now?" Monderyn called out.