Totoka River Try to convince ourselves.

It did needle Ephraim a little bit, the emphasis on home, if only because he could never really go home. Not because Drageda had up and left the cliffs, but because his heart didn't have a home. A part of it resided with his family in the Sound, but he was surely unwelcome there, and he didn't know that he wanted to be around such wolves anyway. Their vitriol seemingly knew no bounds. Another part of it resided with the Dragedan warriors in Trigeda, but having willingly become natrona, he wasn't welcome there either. A piece of it remained with him, for the only one he could trust these days with his heart was himself. Elysium was just the place his body rested for now. So for Ephraim, where was home?

I absolutely thought that your people were going to come after us for that. The boy seethed a little, fought to keep his expression from showing it too much, but he'd always been a fairly open book. The fact was, he thought his people were stupid for not doing more. All bark and no bite. Inaction had lost his respect and inaction had driven him to his present insecurity. But he wasn't willing to tell Firefly all that. They may have lost his respect, but Drageda would always have his loyalty in a sense, and he would not speak ill of them to their adversaries.

You were never worth the time or effort, he said, and it was true. In hindsight he knew that was what it was. Ephraim still didn't agree with it because he was a foolish boy who valued his safety over his pride, which was why he couldn't see Drageda's inaction for what it was: outright dismissal, because Rusalka could do nothing to them.

But didn't they? Drageda is gone now, and it doesn't matter the reason. Swallowing down these thoughts before they could consume him and throw him into another panic attack, Ephraim asked, expecting no answer, which one is Caiaphas? The name was a bit familiar, like a thought on the very edge of his mind trying to get his attention, but Ephraim had always been hopeless at remembering both names and faces from long ago.