Aponi's question had caught him off-guard, but he smiled in response to her curiosity of such a thing. It was a mere reminder that the princess would not be small, little, or "innocent" forever. "Maybe when you're old enough, I will tell you," he indulged, opting for humor to immediately place the subject on the back burner, so to speak, "Try me next week." His smile broadened but in response to his last prompt, Aponi huffed and grumped, stating that his little listening exercise was "stupid," even if she correctly identified that the rabbit was indeed not in its underground burrow.

She stormed away from him, her paws quickly finding the path that would lead her back to the Pass. He let out an exasperated sigh with a shake of his head. Aponi was Aponi and when she had her mind made up, there was no way to make her change it. Eventually, he snickered to himself. If anything was for certain, the girl really was her mother's daughter; and, for that he could appreciate her in all her moody and royally haughty ways. She would make a good Leader if and when the time came...

With one more glance down the rabbit hole, he also started to make his own way back towards the heart of Nomads Pass. At least he tried to teach the girl a little something; and, regardless of whether his lesson had failed or succeeded, he had managed to spend a little quality time with the girl. Careful to mind his steps up the unmarked path, Mapplethorpe followed after the princess, willing the little conversation to memory. This was how he would always want to remember Aponi: every inch a demanding and impatient princess.

(EXIGO.)