Sun Mote Copse Why don't we just relax and turn on the radio? Would you like AM or FM?

As Wildfire started, Kiwi was mollified by the first sentence.  Then that slowly began to shift as her mom went on, every sentence getting more and more wrong in the girl's mind.  Eljay should be a father.  Kiwi didn't see anything in the guy so far that showed the slightest indication he was strong enough to be a parent, not like Nomi had been.

The next part was worse.  Wildfire obviously didn't mean the words to be an insult, but Kiwi was immature enough not to take that meaning.  Aside from that, Kiwi had left Drageda for two reasons: she couldn't let Wildfire leave without her, and she had felt replaced and upset when Ephraim went with Nomi instead of her.  The girl took humongous pride in being born and raised as Kru and, as much as she railed against her siblings, the fact that she couldn't return hurt her more than she ever allowed herself to let on.  Wildfire was one of two people Kiwi loved enough to want to protect fiercely, and she didn't want her to know that she hadn't wanted to choose between two homes, as happy as she'd become here.

But now everything was bursting up, and alongside her guilt about Bat, she couldn't stop it from coming out.  Even if she'd just been given the job she'd really, really wanted, and yelling at her mom was probably a surefire way to lose it just as fast.  There's nothing wrong with us, or with being raised at Drageda, she said, her voice rising as she felt the familiar prick of heat in her face and eyes.  Oh boy.  You can't just replace them.  I don't want any more brothers or sisters!  Her ears pinned back as she stared at her mom heatedly, eyes beginning to water.  Yep.  This was going great so far.