Ankyra Sound you can’t save me

“The drop” was exactly what it sounded like. Treepie recoiled as if slapped, eyes narrowing in disbelief as they continued boring into that face she knew so well. Every muscle in her body went taut as a bowstring as a dozen thoughts gelled into an oath: I won’t let you do this to them.

Her eyes flicked to the pups, as if she might rush to scoop them up and carry them away from this horrific fate their mother planned for them. Almost reluctantly, Pie dragged her eyes back to their anaa, disgust suddenly boiling to the surface and erupting from her mouth.

You hesitated to name them after your ancestors, yet you want to pay homage to something like this? she demanded.

Pie felt like she was flying apart as several realizations struck her at once. Sobeille really planned to subject her pups to this. And she hadn’t thought to consult with Tiuttuk about it. Even now, she was not asking, but telling. Her mouth and stomach both soured as brutal reality hit her. She wasn’t a parent. She wasn’t an aunt. She had no say, per Sobeille’s unilateral approach.

Hurt and terrified, Tiuttuk spat, Hasn’t there already been enough death in your bloodline, Sobeille? You’re telling me you can willingly throw Cairos, Chireille—she gestured at them almost violently—and Mirelyn into the sea, knowing it might kill them? That it probably will?