Ocean's Breath Plateau dentalium

silence fell upon red leaf yet again as he spoke. for a moment, she could hear cen's voice in her ear telling her that it was a weakness of the seal hunter people; that their men were simply not strong enough to assert themselves. but despite this, something in her knew that that was false, and the two sides of this brutal war raged inside her head until the tears began again.
she did not speak until a resounding no! leapt from her lips.
no, no, you cannot tell them anything, it was panic which met chakliux now, the scarlet eyes pinpricked despite the dim lighting of the den. please. i-i shouldn't have said what i said. you don't know what he will do to me or my son if he-- if he finds out i told you this. i beg you, if this was normal and cen was right, why was she so frightened? the weeping dissolves into sobs as she reaches a trembling arm out toward the seal hunter man. please, please don't, chakliux. i-if i am to believe you when you tell me he's dangerous, then-- if you have any heart within you at all, you will let me make the decision to stay or leave. you won't tear my family apart.
she wanted to vomit. she wanted to take little akiak and run, she wanted cen, and she also, somewhere within her, wanted chakliux to follow up on his promise. but each and every path red leaf saw before her as of now left her alone in a world she did not understand.
her decision, as a result, would be whichever path caused her and her son the least amount of pain; the problem she now faces is that she does not know which one that is.