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Ooh, sometimes her parents could make her so mad! Unreasonable, restrictive, exasperating…honestly, Saffron was quite sure that she could have a more rational conversation with a lump of wood than with either of her fathers these days. If one wasn’t trying to curtail her freedom, the other was, and they objected to the most ridiculous things! For her own part, Saffron couldn’t see any harm in going to an all-night gathering of some of the lake area youth. Being a youth herself, she quite liked the idea of getting together with other Soquili her own age. But upon learning there was to be no adult chaperonage (duh!), her fathers had simultaneously put their feet down.

’No, no, absolutely not!’ Duo had raged, his face tightly drawn. ‘Ronny, do you have any idea what sort of things go on at unchaperoned gatherings? With all the hormones flying everywhere and everyone ready to act on their first urge? Parenthood happens, that’s what, and at this age neither you nor your friends are ready for that responsibility! You are not going, end of story.’

Saffron had appealed to Safi, as the Bringer of Joy and Slayer of Injustice, only to be cruelly rebuffed yet again. Safi had been much calmer than Duo; there had been no raging, no bluster, but the message was the same even if the delivery method was different. ’Sweetie, you know we hate to disappoint you, but I really can’t in good conscience allow you to attend this event. You know we trust your judgment implicitly, but the circumstances involved make me…well, they make me very suspicious, to be honest. Unchaperoned, all night? With such a large number of youths? No, I couldn’t even justify you going even if you brought Cerdi along, and that’s saying something!’

Cerdi was her father’s fox familiar, and Saffron loathed him. Fanatically devoted to Safi, Cerdi upheld that Safi was right in all things, period, and there was no reasoning with him beyond that. Spending time with him was nothing more than being babysat, followed by being tattled on. As though she would want to go if she had to bring him along anyway!

She had begged, pleaded, cried, and cajoled to no effect, and had finally come to the ugly truth: they wouldn’t change their minds. “It’s just not fair,” she cried out, kicking at a small rock with such force it went flying over the next hill. “Not fair at all!”

Her fathers would have had something to say about her careless behavior, but truth be told, Saffron hadn’t thought twice about kicking that rock. Why would she, when there was nothing around to worry about hitting? Or there would have been nothing there to hit, if it had been a normal morning. Perversely, she found herself annoyed at the tiny Soquili…foal? Midget adult? Having never before seen an Usdia, she had no idea what she was looking at. But whatever he was, he was putting her in the wrong, and that was a place she didn’t care to be.

Even if it was completely deserved. After all, she could have really hurt someone!

But that was a thought for another time. Whether the intrusion of another on her solitude or a refusal to acknowledge she was in the wrong was more to blame was difficult to say, but her tone was peevish as she responded, “Well, maybe you shouldn’t be sneaking about out of sight, then. How was I supposed to know there was anyone over there, let alone a…you.” She eyed the stallion again, taking in the stripes, the small body, and the scarf. “What exactly are you, anyway? Are you a Soquili?” This time her tone was a less peevish, but her manner was still far from being courteous. Then again, she was the injured party here, right? She was the one who was just trying to get a little space from the unfairness of the adult world, but she couldn’t find that even here!

Well, so much for a having a polite interest! Never mind that her tone and attitude were long-suffering and snappish at best, didn't she get any credit for at least having some interest in the little stallion? Obviously not, the rude little fellow. Not that he'd expect her to know that, indeed, what cheek! Though the fact that she truly had no idea what an Usdia was supported that claim, he didn't have to be so darn rude about it!

It was amazing, how easy it was to pass judgement on his behavior while completely ignoring her own. Though she was in a bad mood, and surely that ought to count for some sort of leniency! Really, it was extra-rude of him not to notice, the little runt.

So she drew herself up to her full height and looked down at him with undisguised coldness. "Perhaps if you looked around before skulking along just out of sight on a hill, you'd be in less danger of getting hit! I doubt the world is going to surmount every obstacle in a 200 meter radius on the off chance there is an Usdia on the other side of it who might be in danger from a rock, ball, or falling stick."After all, there was no doubt that she would have seen a full-sized Soquili. Probably.

At this point, any hope of salvaging this encounter on Saffron's was long gone. In true "petulant teenager" mode now, she was feeling very much the victim of this situation was was bristling more with every word out of the tiny stallion's mouth. Bend to her word and whim? What word and whim? All she had done was, very logically, point out that if he was going to creep along out of view, he'd better prepare himself for the possibility of...something. Maybe not a rock, perse, but what if a herd of bison had come stampeding over the hill and run him over without seeing him? She had displayed a concern about his welfare, and this was what she got in response?

The weight of her wounded pride added a new edge to her already spiked temper and voice, and her eyes flashed as she responded to his very rude comments. "And you're not the center of the word either, Mister. In case you've forgotten, YOU are the one who came storming over here throwing accusations around. I already said I didn't know you were there, but you had to go and get all huffy. I'm sorry I didn't think to check for possible things on the other side of the hill, ok? But I'm even more sorry you had to go and get your tail in a twist over it."

She finished with a huff, scowling down at the little Usdia. After all, HE had provoked the confrontation by stomping over; obviously he was the one with the ego issues!