Dawn Treader Valley and give me what’s mine

they stopped at the brim of the valley where a glintwater arroyo galloped off into some westerly destination. qiao turned to @Stormchaser first, motioning this is where they’d make camp for the night. 

by evening she’d found a grove of tussock grass that concealed them from the road. here she set out her to’lang, extracting the last of the meat steeped in  calmtincture. 

to rowdy and @Riot both, qiao offered the parse thing split between them. go on, little doves. this is the last meal before we reach akashingo.

as it turned out, viva la resistance grew feebler the hungrier one got. he took to his meal like a mule to grain; too tired to complain of the funny taste or put up much a fuss. 

rowdy missed the regular meal times and warmth of his mama; he missed the quiet strength and play of his papa — these things he wept for at night when the old witch chased him to bed. 

the elixir that stained the meat dark kept rowdy compliant. it was just enough to take the edge off without dulling him completely to the bite of his new life. 

nestled next to riot, rowdy eyed his brother’s share hungrily but stayed put. the witch had been kind to them — gracious even — but at times something prohibitively ugly flit across her face like a shadow, terrifying him. 

his gaze flickered to stormchaser sullenly, wondering if he had anymore food to give. when none was provided rowdy slumped to his belly with a whine, forlornly tracing the descent of the river as it fed into a strangely red terrain. no want akashigo. he sighed in the sad manner only a puppy could muster. i wan’ mama.

The boy became Rowdy’s third tail. He was all he had to cling to in these days, the witch and her familiar could never offer what his mother and father had. 
The sun beat hot on his back in the afternoon. But there was no warmth here.
Rowdy is more outspoken than him. He is quiet; owlish, always staring at the spindly woman in a way that showed his unease. 
Unease and sore feet are all he can feel.
But now—a full belly would be worth the cost of enduring the foul tasting food. 
His only utterance, a whiny complaint;
Why? i wan’ go home.

neither child was particularly compliant, which was to be expected. though qiao put on a good act, her patience was thinning. 

 rowdy sank to the earth. his brother watched on with an owlish expression, silent until a feeble complaint ushered from his lips. qiao sighed. there’s no home for you two to go back to. akashingo will be your home. 

how could she explain to two children that the life they had before was gone forever? she supposed she couldn’t.