Asimona tilted her head and listened to Faelan's description. She tumbled the words around in her head and mumbled them under her breath. She had to think about what they meant, not just what they were. Nobility was goodness, being better and showing it. She didn't quite understand, as she had never known nobility, but she did understand getting better, so she latched onto that.

She stood tall, her eyes sparkling as, suddenly, a dozen things leaped into her head. Yes, she would get better! She would get strong and big and protect. She would get better for friends like Faelan. "Then I'll be noble! I'll get better and stronger every day and I'll make you proud!"

Yes, she'd make him proud, and she'd make all of her friends proud, wherever they were. But then the lion stood and began to leave. Asimona jumped forward to stop him, but then halted. There was something in his voice that kept her back and kept her there. Something solemn, something sad. Was he sad? Well, what was sadness? What did it feel like? Something in her kept her from asking.

Instead, she sat down and smiled up at him, feeling something heavy in her stomach, knowing that Faelan was leaving now. Was that sadness?

"Thanks, Faelan. I'm glad I met you, too. We'll see each other again, I promise!" She sat there and watched him leave before turning back to her snow and ice. She leaped forward and landed in a fluffy part, sinking to her belly. She pounded it down a bit with her feet before she curled up in the small dip in the snow bank. Sleep came easily - her first day had been exciting and a child needed rest.

*exit