She felt the familar sensation of excitement at the promise of gossip - hoohoo child - it rose in her chest, and emerged as an encouraging and soothing "you can tell Auntie Fade anything, you know...." 

"I don't know - it's just so stupid," the sentiment finally burst free, as she stopped and stamped a hoof to underline her point, "I don't understand why he can't see how stupid it is - I just can't understand how anyone could  be SO stupid!"

"Sooooo..." Fade applied herself a little bit to think, and then noted, "...you want him to see how stupid it is?"

"It's idiotic! All that nonsense about family and responsibility and belonging together - so what if you're alone?! So what if you'll never belong with anyone else?! Who cares about your stupid family and keeping them together?!

"Why should they need you to take care of their wellbeing?! Can't they take care of themselves?! Who needs their stupid love and the stupid memories of them to keep going?!

"Can't you figure out something useful to do with your stupid life?! So what if they're your family - so what?!"

And here, she petered off uncomfortably as it dawned upon her for the first time that, whether happily or otherwise, a kimeti, out with her 'godaunt', running errands for the 'family business', might not be the best case for this argument.

She watched her turn adorably speechless and teased with a "Cue..."

"What?" she prompted warily, fearing her inconsistency had been detected.

...and she launched into a full-fledged gush.

"Awwww Cue!" she exclaimed. "I never thought you would ever, ever learn to care about other people's lives!!!" She pranced about again, flattening several sections of grass.

"Ooooh Cue I am so proud of you, our angry baby girl is all grown now!!!" She paused for a second to catch her breath and gasped. "You must really like him oh my Motherfather!"

There must be some sort of unofficial rule out there in the Swamp against killing your aunt, by blood or otherwise. Cue was beyond that.

She lunged -

"Ohh!" Wow, when nice things happened they came all at once. There was her turtle!

"Ooh Soup now there you are!"

- and, sadly, came to her senses just in time and stopped.

"There you are," Fade repeated, shaking her head and trotting over to her once-missing turtle.

"You naughty turtle, going off like that. Well come on now, we've wasted enough time," she nodded gravely at Cue, then said sternly to her pet as they continued down the path, "foals are dying out there you know. Shame on you, Soup."

The urge was still incredibly strong, but it was just as well, Cue darkly considered, that she did not kill her godaunt. For one, it would make her continuing employment rather difficult - to say nothing of how awkward family reunions would be.

Nevertheless, there was one thing that was sure, she grimly resolved as they continued onward with their ill-fated delivery, she was never coming out with 'Auntie Fade' ever again.

END