The children's reactions for the most part brought no reaction past the irritated twitching of his ears. He knew they were tired, and probably hungry, and no doubt bored, but so was he and it made it very, very difficult to answer calmly and without irritation. It was Acadia's reaction that worried her most - she didn't say anything at all, just slumped quietly at his side.
"Imena," he began with Aksel's first question, emphasizing the name as his only reaction to Aksel calling her mom, "isn't coming. She has responsibilities in Valhalla. She's their lead healer, you know, and she and her mate want to be able to have puppies of their own." He grimaced, thinking about Imena's pale-colored mate and all his lovey-dovey maturity. Blah. "And yes, Everest, we walked all this way for this. This is where Uncle Thor and Uncle Baldur picked out for us all to live together." And you can blame them for how boring it looks, not me he mentally added. Couldn't they have at least picked someplace more interesting to look at, like someplace with a waterfall or cliffs or... on second thought, he amended, glancing at the pups, with so many intrepid explorers and troublemakers among them, this place is fine.
"So!" he said out loud brightly. "Do you guys want to pick out a spot for us all to make our home? What about you, Hel?" he asked, grasping on her for her enthusiasm earlier and hoping it would motivate some competitive enthusiasm from the others. "Where would you think would be a great spot to sleep here?"
"Speech"
|
