Totoka River You are exactly what I want: kinda cool and kinda not

There were many things he could have said, many things he could have left unsaid, but patience had reached his end, and this was the price. Accusations from the overflow of his mounting frustration of seeing his sister and her husband drag themselves deeper into muddy pits they kept on digging.

By the time Everett understood what his sister had threatened, Lestan was pleading again — and in these things, where his fire had died, he finally made sense. Everett believed the man was right: that Reverie would and could live without him, and perhaps both would be better off if they tried. But Everett also knew the vows of marriage and the gravity of what they must have sworn to each other. They were bound now, by child and home; they belonged, each to the other. And in this, they destroyed themselves.

He caught the small movement too, a fraction after Lestan lunged towards the pups, and his eyes widened, and his paws followed in a scramble of fear. No! The other man went straight for the mouth of one of the tiny daughters, and Everett went straight for the stick Lestan had kicked aside. He trampled the damned fruit under paw, scuffing dirt over the juices, and hurling the broken stick into into the river.

But the damage had been done. A headache pierced behind his eyes, and he closed his eyes against it all. The wail that threatened to spill from his throat, the cursing and sorrow and fear. For the child who had eaten the fruit. For Reverie with her threats. Unable to leave her — but he could not kill the children, either! But if Lestan would not go with them — 

Oh God, his heart finally cried, what am I supposed to do?

It was then that Lestan said his name.

Shoved the child towards him, the hiccoughing little girl with belly full of sorrows.

How dare they bring this on him! But a stillness pierced his anger and his fire withered. His arms aches with the sharp anguish of leaving Reverie again, of what he knew he had to do.

I will take them, he said, and looked up from the little girl Lestan had forced on him and over to the brood his sister still covered, Go back to Blossom. I know of someone who can provide for them.

But the witch can never know.