Bark tumbles from her like brown dandruff, and he idly wonders if it hurts. She speaks again, her voice wise beyond its years and using long words Volterra doesn't even know the meaning of. But the words aren't what the colt focuses on, because - yes - her eyes widen a fraction, something he likely would have missed had he not been scrutinising her for a reaction to his earlier words. It is not much, but it shows that she does feel, that there is perhaps a chink in that stoic armour. "That's...a whole lot of big words you just used." Let it not be said Volterra is dim, but he is young, his vocabularly limited and his brain ill-suited for such mental puzzles. Eloquism will come in time, but right now he finds himself struggling to understand exactly what she means. Pragmatist? Sounds like some sort of nasty flower that will make his poop turn purple.

She speaks again and he listens intently, keen to pick up some more of these words that she throws in with such ease. But his mind zones in on one particular phrase, one that makes his face contort into an expression of shock despite his best efforts otherwise. His shoulders shift involuntarily, and the crimson dragon upon them awakes with a squawk, his claws digging hard into the tender flesh of the boy's withers. He winces, fighting to stay still even as blood trickles from the back of his neck downwards, the irony of which is not lost on the young monolith. The dragon called bleeding, drawing blood. With a ruffle of his wings and a huff, the ruby reptile curls back up, balancing himself firmly against the colt's back. "Woah, woah, woah - did you say God of the Earth? Offspring of the God of the Earth?" Mother taught them of their Gods, and the beastling had listened eagerly to the revelation that said Gods could bestow magic upon their people, that they were powerful beyond reason and as immortal as the rocks around them. The Earth God in particular had drawn Volterra's attention, because anything earthy appeals to him. Could it be that he is in the presence of a Goddess? That would certainly explain the strong earth magic.

He shifts again at her question about his name, carefully this time so as not to elicit another reaction from Vérzés. "I know not. Father named me, and he told me at my birth that I was named for his own sire Terrador - terra, to symbolise our link with the earth. Although evidently my link to the earth is less than some." One elevated brow and a flick of his eyes towards her tree-covered legs.