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Daanu of the Ninyelt was of a serious temperament. Unlike her cousins, and a good many aunts and uncles besides, Saeruin's youngest daughter didn't often smile, preferring to stare at the current object of study. This was not to say she disliked her kin. The trio, for example, were all good company in their own way. Jiu knew how comfortable silence could be, Tathy knew all the words and shared them when the books didn't say, and Saei kept seeing new and interesting things about whatever she was watching today. Any one of them made for good partners tracking cool bugs. Her big sister, by the same token, made for good company when she wasn't getting into fights.

It was this latter detail that concerned the little girl today. She'd been surprised the other day by one such scrap. The concerning thing was that she hadn't remembered this child at all. Daanu had hung back rather than help this time, as she couldn't recall what the proper score might have been to be settled. Kechiri instigated her fair share of grievances, and those were hers to handle. The others, her sister didn't mind helping.

She'd found a comfy little hollow in one of the trees in which to brood on this problem. There had to be some way to remember important things better...

"Hello, Papa." The little blue face unscrunched itself under her father's hand. One of her own grabbers took hold of it, absently nuzzling upward into his palm. Papas grasping fronds always seemed a comfier warm than Auntie Ein's. His calluses felt better, too. "It's Kechiri. She was fighting again the other day. I couldn't remember what caused this one at all.

Wasn't sure what to do but watch. Don't think I like being unsure like that." Another contrast to those classmates closer to her age group, Daanu preferred her speech clear and precise rather than the folksy drawl some affected.

Ushiwa's youngest tended towards the introspective, as it turned out. Seldom saw merit in speech when she could show what was on her mind. The man leaning against her tree was, of course, an exception. "I understand that part. Her fighting does not bother me. That is how she is, and that is okay. It is me that is bothering me." The frown returned, hinting at lines on her forehead.

It deepened a little at her father's assurance of uncertainty. "But it is clear. If I pay attention, it is all there, plain as your nose. That was how it always has been. ...Now it is different, muddled. I don't like it."

Ushi's quiet child frowned. She wasn't used to being unclear in this sense either. She tried again. "My heart says Kechi was right to fight him, but he was right to fight her, too. Or they each thought they were. My head does not recall any reason for this one, however, and that is what bothers me. So I watched." Instead of all the other things she could have done, she'd watched.

An absent nod, one hand toying with a lock of hair. She wore it long and loose, only tying it up for the heavy chores. "I thought so. He has got better at hiding, then." Broody Daanu continued to stare out at the world from her hollow tree, though she made no move to push her da away.

The dark head nodded slowly along, considering her father's suggested course. "Maybe. Kechi seemed just as confused at first. It did not fit in her usual patterns. It became as you say, fun for both, but there was a real wrong to spark it." The frown turned into a frustrated scowl as Daanu thought harder. She still wasn't getting the problem across. Worse yet, she was being rude to her Papa, using him as a sounding board instead of speaking directly.

A shorter, sharper nod to herself, and her own yellow eyes turned to Ushiwa's. "Not mad at him, or at my big sister. Mad at myself. I can usually see what's wrong when something is happening. I could see it there, tugging at her opponent, and through him, Kechi, but I could not see what it was. It ended well this time, but- but what if next time it does not?" A little fear had crept into her voice, so often intertwined with anger in children.

His leaning pricked up Daanu's ears, as that was his secret-telling pose. She did love a juicy secret. This one, though, struck her as a little stale. Of course Kechi was watched. You could see that by looking sideways in her big sister's presence. "That seems as though it will become wildly uncomfortable for everyone, papa. She has to walk her road alone some time, no? It is not fair to Ushiruin, either, watching someone that rushes nosefirst into danger." Or to me, she added in silence. I will want to leave and see the world for myself. Not today, but someday.

Perhaps it was her snit. The warrior's child had a good mad going, and it might have been coloring what her Papa said unfairly as well. Scabby knees drew up a little closer to her chin, and little fingers wrapped just a bit tighter around big ones. "I hope they come clearer with time. Sometimes I cannot help but think everyone else is stupid, or blind somehow. Feels like most people don't see the world right in front of them."

Confusion tinged her frustrations, coloring it and her whole view. It showed plainly in Daanu's blue little face as she looked up into her sire's. Searching. Questioning. Again, uncertain, and all the more frustrated for it. "Can you do that? Can you protect someone from making their own mistakes and choices?" He'd used a new word. 'Evil'. She couldn't recall hearing it from kin before. Papa and Auntie Ein could be scary when the wolf was in them, but sometimes even the wolf was gentle. Kynin kept biting stuff, but that was kind of how he communicated. Kechiri being evil was an odd thought, rubbed wrong at the edges as they brushed other patterns.

"I do not think she can become evil, Papa. Not if she knows we love her. She might become selfish, but she will not be cruel." Faith in her sister's current pattern? Maybe. But as he'd just said, she could see what was in front of her face. And young Daanu's papa was afraid. This time, she reached up to try and pay his head. "She will be okay in herself, Papa. You do not need to have 'Ruin look over her shoulder."

"I cannot read her mind either, Papa. She shows how she is, is all. Maybe you are standing in the wrong place when you watch her?" It was probably time to let go of her mad. There were more important things right in front of Daanu. She could kind of see something jagged around her poppa 's chest, though the skin there was firm and smooth. Not the whole shape, only edges, and those because where they were, the fear wasn't the same. Sort of a was-not thing. Her auntie Ein knew about it, and told her bits when asked, however little. Momma changed the topic when it came up, and that said something in the not-words, too.

Nothing for it, she supposed. If asking around it wouldn't work, might as well touch beside. Her remaining hand came up to his head, both working to lift his lean face to hers. She needed to see his eyes for this, before he got lost in old pain. Bright little eyes tried very hard to hold his while they could. "Papa. Why are you scared?"