Sunspire Mountains she slipped the lock, and changed her dress

all it took was one disparaging remark and wylla's pyre roared with fire anew, each word licked with flame. esme gazed glacially at her mother, taking the blows with the mailed gauntlet of indifference. "seems to me like i already have?" she lipped back, peeling her gums back over her teeth in a snarl.

she did not yell back, as she would have as a child. instead, she remained self-controlled, breathing huffs from her nostrils as the woman who called herself her mother shrieked with all the strength of her lungs. 

secretly, each word was a scythe swipe that opened a fresh wound in her chest. a muscle in esme's cheek jumped, but she did not speak a word until wylla roared that she was her mother and esme could not hold back a peal of laughter.

she walked in a tight circle, chuckling with disbelief, as her mother clinched her tirade with a viperous punctuation. an attempt slated to hurt her daughter, what she was best at. "oh, i lack the depth and warmth to be a cunt, unfortunately," she aired snidely, gouging marks in the soil with her flexing claws. 

her eyes implored wylla's focus for what she spoke next, squinting gaze. "i cried for my mother, every single time. i endured it all with the faith that she would someday rescue me, long after i should have lost hope," she spoke lowly, lashing her tail against her flanks. "but that wasn't you, because here you are, calling this place your home. but i suppose when you lose a child, well, there's always next year, right?" unaware of just how sharply her tongue might have whetted its blade, she paced testily back and forth, back and forth—

"do it again. call yourself a mother."