"Of course I'm the oldest!" he quipped back, almost resenting the idea that he could have been anything less than first born. He was larger and smarter than both Belladonna and Adonis combined. It was a little disappointing, however, to discover that she actually wasn't the first of her siblings. Huh/ Had she just been lying to him? How could she be the heir if she isn't the oldest? His stare was incredulous.
But then he heard a word that changed everything. Determined. She had ambitions, this little girl who knew about bears and marshes. "Wow," he breathed, Despite previous conclusions on the quality of her character, all the weeping and girlish helplessness, she was not weak. Taima spoke with a conviction that Datura found delicious, alluring. It mirrored his own dreams of a kingdom, in a way, and perhaps that was why he decided he liked her best of all. (Or, well, best of all outside of his family.) He probably would have offered to be this mate of hers right then and there if she smelled a little more becoming. Her dream could be his dream. It could be their dream. But he kept these thoughts to himself as she rambled on.
"Always wondered what it's like to live there, above it all."
He shrugged, not really knowing how to respond to this. It wasn't really like anything. To Datura, it was what it was. He lived on a mountain and that was all there was to it. But perhaps what Taima was getting at was that topic no one else could seem to stop themselves from bringing up. Beauty. Once more Datura felt himself constructing a wall between himself and the girl. "Everything just looks really small," he said, confined to plain, literal statements by his inability to speak grace, "Like this forest. This forest was so small that I wandered out here thinking it was grass... " Idly, he was reminded that he was still pretty lost... Perhaps after he helped her she would return the favor, but he was loath to admit his grievous error—
"Well, mister high-and-mighty"
Dubious, the boy followed her out onto the ice. He wasn't particularly sure if he liked this nickname she had given him since he didn't really get it. He could not see the artful way she had manipulated language in order to create a double entendre. But he followed her nonetheless, willing to take direction from this one-day-queen.
"Help me break this."
Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at her quite seriously. "You should probably stand back." What if she fell into the freezing water and then he had to save her again? That certainly wouldn't be much fun.
Here was where Datura's weight, his borderline chubbiness, would come in handy. He knew he hadn't taken a big breakfast two days ago for nothing. There was no need for tact in order to complete this task, and that was just the way Datura liked it. Just straight forward, brute force. He could do this. Rising high onto his hind legs, Datura paused before shifting all his weight forward and slamming his forepaws down against the frozen ice. The frozen water creaked uncertainly, and a hairline fracture appeared. Thrice more, Datura rose up and slammed down, the crack growing ever bigger until finally something finally gave way and one of his paws slipped straight through a hole in the ice into half-frozen water.
"YARGG!" the golden boy exclaimed, leaping back from the hole he had made.