The Tangle hips that could bear you a buffalo

Eirlys didn’t try to correct her sister or make her believe what she’d said; she and Ceallach had thrown a similar response at Hemlock and Arturo’s initial bearing of the news. Mallaidh must’ve known that none of the Hemlotturos would ever make jokes about something so dire, so Eirlys just stepped forward and attempted to hold her eldest littermate as best she could. She couldn’t stop the inevitable storm, but she could at least try to help Mallaidh weather it.

“After äiti — after it happened, papa and mama — Hemlock — were never the same,” she admitted in a low undertone. “See, after we lost you and Roarke, äiti was really sad, and Hemlock always took care of her and papa. Over time, äiti and papa fell in love with her. She taught them both to be happy again, but they never stopped missing you and loving you and Roarke.” Eirlys had been raised in this unorthodox way and didn’t see anything odd about it, so she pressed onward, her voice still hitching with the sobs she was struggling to fight back: “Ceallach and I started calling her ‘mama,’ because that’s what she became.”

Eirlys sniffled but pressed on. “That’s what äiti wanted — she and Hemlock were wives and papa was the husband.” Now that she’d brought Mallaidh up to speed about why she differentiated between “mama” and “äiti” she furrowed her brow, trying to think about what else the other girl had missed. “We lived across the sea on an island for awhile. We had to move.”

“Papa…he was out patrolling with Ceallach, and they found Chusi’s scent nearby. She’d come back to the Hinterlands where we were born, but she didn’t come home. After that…I don’t know how to explain it, but papa — he changed. He said his name was Witchdoctor and he was — creepy. One day he didn’t come home anymore. I keep looking for him, but I — ” She simply shook her head. “Hemlock had two babies with papa. She was pregnant with them when äiti — anyway, we have a little sister named Reed and a little brother named Droman now,” was the last thing she figured was most important to add.