The young were always strange. Had he not been a strange youth too? Yet, he feels something about the child that seemed greater than just a child. Her eyes seemed to flicker with an older light, something more potent than the confidence and zealous of youth. When she had spoken and looked to him, his focus had been on just that rather than her words; he pondered it, his own eyes narrowed ever so slightly in contemplation as her words finally caught up to him.

"This is true," he nodded, unwavering in his observations and yet, the corner of his lip twisted up momentarily as if amused. "It cannot...stop life...cannot bring it back...cannot bring back what it...destroys." He remembered tales of flood then, when great waters would tear stone and dirt away. For years after, those scars remained steadfast on that landscape - that was the grotto, a chasm so deep and dark that could never be filled. "Even that which...we perceive...so strong...is weak too." Kings, queens, mothers and fathers - all had their weakness. Fire could be doused, water stopped by the humblest beaver and even quakes died within moments of rousing. For some reason, he felt it pernitent to remind this girl in particular of such a fact. That flicker, he had decided, was not water but a budding flame.

He stood then as she began to answer his next question; he pressed both paws against the splintered ice, daring it to break entirely beneath his weight, trusting the water's depth below. Was this seeking an answer? Could he beat fear? Even as he pressed against the ice, he could feel his heart murmur in protest, a flicker of uncertainty at whether the waters below would swallow him up or not. Lucky, he thought, that she has not met a question that cannot be answered. In silence, his head tilted, his lip twitching again. Yet.

"You have... an old man's jealousy..." He shrugged, a single paw giving in to the ice as it plunged into the water. Instantly, it hit the squelchy mud below, a passive grin spreading over his muzzle. "If you like to seek...could you...find me an answer?" He queried her with another head tilt, his eyes rested upon hers now though his grin had gradually faded away once more.