Morningside Cuesta sat my back to your stars and breathed in your sighs

He looked between the two sullen faces of his children, his heart sinking further and further as he saw the intensity of emotion there. These were angry faces, disgusted faces, hurt faces. Had they inherited his own inability to bond the way they ought? Had their mother left some latent and unknown evil in their genes? Perhaps the same kind of instinct that'd driven her to abandoning her family?

"I am the boss," he said at last, seemingly out of nowhere. He looked at Sunny. "I am the boss of Dawn, Sunny. You are not the boss of her. You were born together, you were raised together, and until one of you kicks the other's ass, we're going to assume you're as strong as each other. Equals."

He looked at Dawn.

"And being equals means you have to respect each other. I know you feel disrespected, baby, but that's tough. You can only choose how you act, and not how he does. You can try to explain it to him nicely, or you can send him to me. But I don't ever want to hear you speakin' evil to each other. You got that?"

He looked at both of them. "You got it? This is all the family we have. Those boys out there? They don't have a mama between them, and they've both lost all their brothers and sisters. Do they look happy? Do you think you'll be happy if you say something, one day, and it breaks your bond for life?"

Whatever responses his children might've spoken, Grayday spoke over them, wanting himself to be heard. But when he'd asked this last question, he waited, wondering what sort of retorts they'd have for his little monologue. God forbid he actually work something into those thick skulls of theirs - Grayday might die of shock if they seemed at all contrite about their little spat. Of course, there were more Wise, Fatherly Words to come, but he doubted they'd let him get to that without a fuss.