"'If wishes were fishes'," Jigano murmured wryly, looking out over the Miana Pool, "we'd all cast nets'." He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. "But we're stronger than we were. One of these years someone might yet find the key to a weakness that will let us turn the tables on them." To make the hunters the prey, and the smile the bard flashed was all fox, sly predator hiding disguised behind a human's blunt teeth.
The old Remi had taught him to value optimism again, after all. Wishing, at least, did no harm.
Burned by his own breadfruit, it took Jigano a moment to get his outside voice back as Isuma peeped happily at the brief 'ride' she got from Ronin's shrug. "That's something I should be able to help you with in return," he agreed, relieved that the job was also one of protection. They couldn't claim to be not looking for trouble, not when they would be outside in the dark, but at least they weren't going to deliberately tweak any specific monstrous noses this year. "If you'd like?" Meddler that he was, Safrin's last lesson to him still rang in the cracks she'd left in his soul, and the offer was made more quietly, a little subdued as he glanced to her put-upon demigod.
The old Remi had taught him to value optimism again, after all. Wishing, at least, did no harm.
Burned by his own breadfruit, it took Jigano a moment to get his outside voice back as Isuma peeped happily at the brief 'ride' she got from Ronin's shrug. "That's something I should be able to help you with in return," he agreed, relieved that the job was also one of protection. They couldn't claim to be not looking for trouble, not when they would be outside in the dark, but at least they weren't going to deliberately tweak any specific monstrous noses this year. "If you'd like?" Meddler that he was, Safrin's last lesson to him still rang in the cracks she'd left in his soul, and the offer was made more quietly, a little subdued as he glanced to her put-upon demigod.