Interesting. I must have missed a lot more than I realized. That’s perfectly infuriating, and we’ve only barely scratched the surface of my questions.
There are a lot of children…?
Wolves have big families.
Do you have siblings?
No. Parents died.
My chest squeezes and I want to do…something. I want to be comforting, but that’s not the sort of relationship we have. Instead, I write:
I’m surprised there aren’t more wolves here, since there are so many children.
Fox’s expression turns dark. He holds the pen tightly, his hand shaking slightly with what I think must be anger.He gives me a meaningful glance and gestures around as if to say“look where we are.”
His hand is still shaking as he writes two words:
Soldiers die.
My blood runs cold. Of course I know that, but Thermia isn’t at war. There haven’t been any wars in Ellender for centuries.
I understand that the Thermian army is used to keep the monster population under control, but how many monsters must there be if the soldiers are dying at such a rapid rate? I’ve seen Fox fight. Clearly he had no difficulty with the wyvern or that frost troll from a couple of years ago, and there’s only one of him. Surely an entire army all trained like Fox shouldn’t be decimated so easily.
Fox is watching me warily, probably worried I’ll make him talk about it more, so I change the subject.
Who’s Runa?
His brow furrows in irritation, then takes the pen and underlines his previous sentence halfway up the page.
Complicated. Would take too long to write.
I reach for the pen, but he refuses to hand it to me, and takes it with him as he strides over to the bed. He glances back at me pointedly, then grabs a pillow off the bed and puts it on the ground, clearly offering to sleep there.
I shake my head. “You don’t need to do that.”
His eyes widen in alarm, and he strides back over to the table, pen still in hand.
You can’t speak out loud if it’s just the two of us.
“Right, sorry,” I mutter without thinking.
He makes a frustrated growl in the back of his throat as a muscle in his jaw ticks.
I suck in a breath. “Sorry!”
Fox looks exhausted.
My face burning, I hold my hand out, silently asking him to give me the pen. He looks wary, but finally hands it to me. I scribble:
Tell them I find it easier to talk out loud.
He shakes his head and takes the pen back.
No one would believe that.
Maybe just tell Kai we’re not really bonded. He seems like he’d understand.
Fox shakes his head sharply.
