He listens attentively as she speaks, ears perks forward. He blue eyes find their mirrors in her face and he doubt and frustration is written clear as day break in the lines of his body and the expression of his face. Still he is quiet until he is sure she has finished, processing what she said. Already the mind behind those eyes is trying to find the implications of every sentence she speaks, drawing conclusions and trying to define how his life works now in Solterra. He couldn't imagine living anywhere but a place like this, full of hot sand and biting wind and hidden treasures. Her question prompts a quick nod and a smile more wry than cheerful.
Vadim is thinking and in thinking he has lost some of the awkward hesitation and anxiety that previously would have had him shrinking from any hint of displeasure at his many questions. He knows he asks too many- he has always asked too many and too many people have indulged him in answers for him to stop now. It seems he never learns anything if he doesn't ask.
"Many, but most aren't terribly important." His words are almost dismissive, not of her but of himself. His stance has changed, no longer fidgeting and dancing on the edge of the oasis but hooves now braced except for one that lifts to stamp the sand, telegraphing his disquiet at the answers he received. He understands what she says but there are so many problems with the reasoning that it bothers him.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to educate people on Solis and allow people to make that choice whether they wish to remain or not rather than forcing anyone who does not agree to believe blindly to either leave or pay lip service to something they don't believe in?" His muzzle scrunched a little as he rolled the thought over in his head. "That sort of thing sounds like it would breed resentment and sew discontent rather than binding us together."
He still counts himself among them, even is he is new. Even if he is unwelcome. He chose their lot when he did not leave after the meeting that announced the new laws. He invested in them when he put in the labor to ready the garden for planting so that they would have food into the future. He does not yet quite understand the strict hierarchies of Novus and specifically of the Day Court. Or rather, he understands them but he does not yet quite realize how the militaristic nature of their sovereign might effect the day to day life of the court.
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