Noctisardor Bypass Soft blue skies, helium balloons float up, away

Keep an eye on her, Wylla said sagely, but with a smirk at the end that suggested she was kidding. She had no reason to believe that Witch would ever turn out like Caiaphas, not with Mahler's influence in her life. Then again, some wolves were just born rotten. The seawitch, for instance. Wylla could imagine no world where Caiaphas had ever borne the soul of a good wolf. Even her children had not been spared the miserable chaos that whirled around her, not that Wylla knew about that.

Then the cascade of questions. It took a lot for Wylla not to roll her eye; give an inch, take a mile. That's how kids were. A fool is someone who does something really stupid, she answered, monotone, as if she was the voice of Google search engine with no personality or investment in the answers. A promotion means getting a new rank and new responsibilities. Maybe Sequoia thought the kids were too young to learn about hierarchy, which was also foolish, but she held her tongue.

So Worripa was gone. Wylla felt something peculiar thrum in her chest, almost like concern, but it wasn't like she knew the kid well. It was the face of her son she imagined. It wasn't her problem if he went wandering off from under watchful noses, just like no one in Sagtannet had made it their problem when Thade disappeared. No one had helped that she could recall, no one but his parents. Still, there was something more there that Wylla wasn't willing to unwrap. Worripa was her blood.

But he wasn't her problem. To the sea. To where I was born. I went on a trip with my daughter. All said in a distracted fashion with a slight frown toying her with browline. He was Sequoia's problem, and Mahler's, neither of whom had done anything to earn any favours from Wylla. That was what she told herself to quell the urge to get up and go looking for a wolf who was her kin but likely did not know it, and wouldn't care if he did, she was sure.

Heda probably didn't, either, and suddenly Wylla was compelled to blurt out, I'm your aunt. Not that that was going to change anything about whatever relationship this was. Heda was practically Sequoia's child now, and Sequoia was clearly out to get her, so nothing really would change, except maybe Sequoia would deny it if Heda ever brought it up and forbid visits. Actually, she was damn surprised the kids hadn't been turned against Big, Bad Wylla in her absence. That would have been par for the course. Great-aunt, technically, but whatever.