Learning Pains

She held her paws back when he took his ear away, she wouldn't press any physical touch if her children didn't want it. He asked a curious question and she tilted her head at him. She turned her golden gaze to the Col where she could see it from the patio. The mountains drew up around them, trapping moisture and air to feed the mile-high woods below to the east. These mountains were formidable and hard to navigate if you weren't familiar with the paths and the pass. The caves were winding and dripping and wet. How could she describe the desert to him?

"You know the hot springs?" She asked, looking back at him, had he tried the hottest water yet? "Think of that heat in the air, that heat in the rocks, coming off the ground. Feel the sun on your back here?" She trailed a ticklish couple of dull claws over his shoulders where the warmth of the sun was hitting him, "Think if that warmth got even hotter and hotter and hotter the more you sat there. It's a lot drier, the plants are a lot spikier, and sparser." She watched him, wondering if he could even imagine such a place.


"Speech"