@hugormprince
“Have you no one else to pester?” At this point the line between whether he was intentionally pestering her or simply breathing was nonexistent. In fact, the two were a complete circle -- one did not exist without the other. Still, she couldn’t help but grind her teeth as she shooed away the child she’d been speaking to about the life cycle of a plant, which the youngling had at least found mildly interesting.
She hated to send anyone away too quickly, save for the arrogant idiot man now standing before her, but she had little trust in her heart for a man who so closely resembled a god of mischief. Should she have worried that her words were insulting? Yes. Would she ever care enough to hold her tongue in his presence? No. She might have even preferred cutting it out entirely than biting back her words. “Surely you can find something worth your time besides wasting precious air.”