You’ve become better at eavesdropping on the open conversations around you. Sometimes you can hear your mother speaking to your companions, sometimes to others even further outside your ken -- including the strange, hypnotic minds you rarely sense come close. You listen, and you come to understand the flow of relation and action embedded in the words.
So small and adorable, Gwillanth would whisper to her mate.
I’m not! Pertemarth would say in mock-offense, any initial misgivings buried under turns of the ritual.
I’m sorry, she’d giggle, and nuzzle him in apology.
No visits, not after you nearly stepped on the littlest one, Gwillanth hissed at a foreign mind, a past clutchsire.
As you wish, he said, hanging his head in shame.
The most-known strange mind -- Shayled, Gwillanth’s bond -- shared a new story of hurt from far away, another place with other people. “They won’t listen,” she said, frustration pouring from her.
They will, Gwillanth rejoined. I promise.
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Which of these interactions -- or another of your creation -- impacts you the most? How quickly do you grasp that words can act, not just communicate? When you do, do you seek to use this new power immediately? How do you do so -- or do you wait? What time do you feel is appropriate for promises, apologies, insults, or other actions of speech?