Sun Mote Copse Mad world.

We can fade!  She's such a butt
It wasn't rational that, days later, Fennec would still be so upset about this as to take it out on her mom.  It didn't feel great but she just couldn't help the frustration she felt.  She couldn't see Towhee's face, so she didn't know how her words landed.  The cut off affirmation was all she got, but it wasn't enough to make her stay.

She stalked off, and would take some time before she took the herbs back and treated Towhee's shoulders the way Eljay had taught her.  In the meantime, she clenched her jaw, willing herself to just forget it.  Problem was, it wasn't easy to forget.  And there was no way in hell she was ever going to get to the root of why.  Especially not with conversation.

Admitting that meant admitting that, at one point, Niamh's estimation of her had meant something.  She'd looked up to her... her mom's best friend and a fighter too.  But she'd learned pretty abruptly where she ranked that day, and that cut deeper than any insult against her eyes ever would.  Obviously her step mom cared more about that random kid than she did her own step daughter, who was just some blind nuisance she'd needed to swat away.

All of this was locked up tight, in the same recesses where Penn now stayed, his own departure leaving pretty recent scars of its own.  All of it just served to convince her, more and more, that anyone could change.  Even her family's love couldn't be completely unconditional.

Fenn is blind, and as she's older, will take all of her character insight from tone.  If you are ever uncomfortable with an assumption she makes, please let me know!