Broken Boulder pisces

this?

this was all she gleaned?

she understands the motherly love for her children, but this is ridiculous. if the woman wants to play this game, this petty, ridiculous game of would yous, suitable only for a freshman ethics course--

game on.

"do not twist my words into something ugly," Kaali snarls, shoving her nose forward, mere inches from the woman's face. "did i not come with you here, accompany your sons here? i could have killed them and been done with it, long ago. even done so gently, in their sleep. for their sake."

the idea makes her stomach heave violently. men was one thing, but children?! dear Seabreeze. her heart bled nobly, but for the wrong reasons.

"they are--were--redeemable. until you brought them here." Kaali jerks her head toward the boulder. "those men have nothing but evil to teach them. by placing your sons in the paws of men, already tainted by this world, you have given them up to the inevitable."

Kaali is breathing hard, ribs heaving with the effort to stay and not flee. this was getting too much to handle, too quickly. she didn't want this, didn't want this sanctuary, these men--

she had only wanted to help women in need. she had done so, and now she must go.

your sons will hurt women, just like their fathers, and their fathers before them. by coming here, you have doomed them. either they will take the dignity of the ones who will give them children--or i will take their lives, when they are grown.

but all the words she has left will go unsaid. she takes a step back, then another--not fleeing, just yet, but giving up the verbal argument. she has nothing more to say to this incredibly short-sighted, mule-headed woman;

and she will never concede that by digging in her heels, on this issue,

she has the impenetrable skull of an ass, as well.