Not as strong as us

“I don’t know, it just seems… mean.” he said, trying to put his feelings into words. It was difficult, he had never really experienced this before. How did anyone ever find the right words for every new and difficult moment in their lives? “It’s like… I want you, and Azure and Indy to go on living. What if this bird had someone who wanted him to go on living? Shouldn’t killing be… be something difficult, and done sparingly?” he struggled for a moment, and shook his head quickly when Asla offered to get him another bird.

When she suggested they do something else, he was much quicker to agree. He didn’t want to dwell on this, he didn’t like the tightness in his chest, or the worry of his father disapproving of how Mort was different to his siblings. “Yeah. Let's go do something else. Wanna play tag?” he asked her, moving away from the lifeless bird, and trying to shrug off its death as easily as Asla had.