Dancing with the past

As Xina grew closer to the other girl she hopped over a discarded shield and landed on the smooth dirt and grass that seemed to permeate the area despite the potential of nourishing blood to feed the plants. She wondered if there was a deeper cause to the shortened stalks around her and why it looked like the plateau here was so barren. Could they have salted the ground as the ancient warriors fought?

Xina's tail, as if it held a mind of its own, swayed back and forth as the other spoke! Soft melodic tones rang in Xina's ears like honeyed bells. As if the bullet casings at her feet had chimed together while Xina's paws brushed over them.

"Yup! I'm Xina! The best of Absinth and Aresenn's kids." She exclaimed with a little shoulder shimmy of self-importance. One day her boasts would be less obvious as she fully learned the art of subtlety.

Her question had Xina's head tilting.
"After...? Wut? Oh! After you guys got nabbed? Hardly." Xina shrugged, she assumed the grownups who were not directly involved, namely Kaino anyway, probably sighed with relief at the loss of mouths to feed. She hopped up a strange hardened hill. It was covered in green metal and had harsh angled sides. In another world, it would have been called a tank. She sprawled over the top of it as she spoke. "They don't seem too bothered by kids even fucking dying. My brother died in his trial and Mom and Dad were upset by it but it wasn't like anyone else was bothered by it much. You guys probably got lucky you just got nabbed." Xina shrugged again, her tail flopping over her ankles as she felt the cool metal under her side.

"You smell fresher than home, is that pack any fun?" She asked with a mischievous grin. Avoiding the question of why she was out here.

"speech"