ORIGIN

Pride laughed, loudly and heartily, at Cadenza's first question. He was not laughing at them, but--as would become clear by the good-natured tone of his laughter and his answer--at the idea of children doing this, in general. "They may. No--they will! You have to tell them no. At least, when they are younger," he corrected. "Older children will explore by themselves, and learn--that's the way of things. But if you have--if I had--three young who wanted to go three different ways, I'd suggest a journey of all four of us to each place in turn. An adventure they all can learn from. Perhaps travel to one cave, explore it for a day, then rest and move on to the next! And I'd ask what they expect from it, to tailor it further so they enjoy it."

The easy way he spoke of this suggested, too, that he'd faced similar things before. That he'd learned, via having kids of his own and dealing with similar issues, to adapt. It didn't sound, either, like it would be much of a problem to handle with, at least via his own perspective.

"Let's go, then. Mischief--you can stay or come with us, back to Eridanus," he said, glancing back at his familiar. She scrambled up against his neck, then settled there, answering that question with firm action--and Pride shot an amused look Cadenza's way. "She's like another child, at times," he confessed, with clear humor.

He turned, picking his way back the way he'd come, hooves clicking on the rock. "So tell me, what sort of foods exactly do you prefer..?" Perhaps their tastes had evolved a little since their last visit to the gardens--and Pride knew Eridanus well.