Snippet #2800800

"Oh yeah, yeah," Tate agreed, smiling and rocking a bit as he tried to recall. He grasped his wooden horse and clumsily made his way to a small box, where he reached in and pulled out another one of his creations: this one resembling an ant.

"Ant better," Tate said proudly, tossing the unfinished horse into the box and returning to his father. "Ants nice, like Jasp."

Jasp was Tate's ant, a gentle female that seemed to grasp that Tate, despite his size, was still a child at heart. Tate gazed fondly at his wooden ant, then seemed to remember something as his stomach growled.

"Hungry," Tate said, rubbing his stomach. "Food soon, Dad?"

***

"It's always that cannon, isn't it?" Falcon said, her voice amused. "It's big, I'll grant you that. I'll pass on the message, stranger. But don't get your hope up. M'Kama is like an oak tree - stubborn, strong, and uncaring of the axe until it is too late."