Ankyra Sound into the rainbow vein

caiaphas had grand plans to lay this fool to waste with the acerbic lash of her tongue, but then he spoke -- nay, he blurted -- and before long, it was evident he was just another lost soul, washed up on her shore.

he looked miserable, that much was true. he was a blackthorn too; as much as she disliked the ending she had found for herself in redhawks, they had fed her starving children -- and that strange, weirdly deformed loyalty was a hard loyalty to kill.

her gaze was calculating as she lifted her head, glancing him over one last time before she spoke. "normally trespassers are killed." she started, her voice continuing its dry inflection. "i will make an exception, as you are a blackthorn." a smile neither kind nor generous briefly spanned her features before it too dissipated, like soft summer wind ripped apart by winter's teeth. "who is your brother?"