Ankyra Sound and i, i won't feel sorry, you can believe me

<3

caiaphas acknowledged her daughter with a strained smile, pleased the thick-headed girl had decided she was on her mother's side (as she should be). she could tell from the antsy way raleska shifted, that the girl was ready for blood.

as rosalyn was filled in, caiaphas watched the way the woman's features darkened, followed by the peculiar shift of her body as if screening her children from the crone. caiaphas' ears pulled forward at rosalyn's decree; children are not payment to be exchanged.

"rusalka's children are not payment to be exchanged." caiaphas reiterated; like rosalyn, she would have died before delivering her own children (or any of rusalka's for that matter). rusalka's children being traded off was not up for debate.. but, kiwi was not rusalka -- and in some ways, caiaphas was old-fashioned. "it would strengthen our numbers and our alliance; a child grown in the midst of us, would never know the wiser. it would make the enemy far less likely to attack." caiaphas had been born in a region where houses exchanged puppies often; it strengthened kingdoms, fortified tentative peace treaties, and drove much of progress. "what would you have demanded instead?" caiaphas could think of nothing more costly than a child (and how quickly people come to heel, when prompted to deliver at great cost to themselves), and looked to rosalyn curiously, for her sharp mind failed her in devising any other option.