Mount Everfall God loves his children

The girl wanted her opinion heard -- and rightly so. It was her choice weather she wanted to know her father or not. Her outburst made Hiram hopeful. Perhaps her perception of him hadn't totally been poisened by her caretakers. Hiram looked down toward his daughter, before she was quickly shuffled away by the other adults, to shoot a smile in her direction. Though he had spoken nary a word to his daughter, his expression was already full of love.

Soon, Laika spoke. His attention turned to the woman as she began to mediate. Surprisingly, she was receptive to receiving Laurel's opinion -- so much so that she was willing to let her return to the grotto with him if it were her choice. Laika's mediation made Hiram a happy man, but despite the hope he harbored in his heart, he knew that neither Casmir or Spring would allow that to fly.

Nor did they.

They quickly decided that this was a matter to be decided by adults, not the desires of a child. Silently, Hiram agreed. "I just want to know my daughters," he said. Some time was all he asked. With that, he could buy himself some more time to figure out how he would whisk both Laurel and her sister away to the grotto, because he surely couldn't do that now.