The Sunspire For in his eye were stars that burned

Silence fell at Rannoch weighed the scene before him. The mother searched his face, trying to scry meaning from his stoicism, as her heartbeat quickly grew more and more rapid — the way her gut simmered, she wondered if she actually had done something wrong. something to feel bad about. Would Rannoch realize this before even she?

Quickly, the words came to her mind and she spoke them without hesitation.   “He was a bad man,” she confessed, not even sure of her own meaning or intention behind saying this — it was the truth, but it felt like a reluctant truth. Her thoughts were only for Cassiopeia, who had committed murder right upon their peaceful borders, and of her three babies who nestled in Seabreeze as easily as they did their own mother. The druid’s eyes became narrower, almost imperceptibly, as she knew exactly what was at stake.  The shrouded woman looked at Rannoch square in the eyes, demeanor already quite steely for having been so despondent just moments before.   “He mauled his daughter.” she further explained — not even with this did she venture even close to the area of untruthfulness.   “Sunspire is safer with him dead.” Still, this was undoubtedly true. 

  “So, I killed him.”

Oh, wait. 
That wasn’t true. 

Olive let that sink in for a moment; it wasn’t the truth, but it was the truth that she was living now. She was murderer, and worse — and murderer of those she loved. She, who had never even killed anything larger than a doe’s calf! But, this was the reality she must live. Cassiopeia could not be blamed for her actions, for she was young and abused. Olive must be the one to shoulder the blame, as was a mother’s duty, for it was at her hand that enchanted Dakarai and brought him back into her life over and over again.    “— but I didn’t want to.” the woman’s voice quivered as her pleading gaze dripped off of Rannoch’s.  “He… forced my hand.”