Swiftcurrent Creek count the stars that are shining in your eye

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When her son turned to face Tuwawi, the firebrand's expression brightened. Mother, he said! He had remembered, after all this time! She could see him now, as he truly was. Features of Njal, plus a dash of summer-wolf in her child's golden face. It was joyous and moving -- a blessed reunion years in the making.

However, the good moment was fleeting. Larus' words knocked the wind right out of her like a swift punch to the belly. Ragged breath shuttered from her slim breast as the grim reality of Caiaphas' truthful manipulation dawned upon the widow. 'Larus didn't even love you,' she had said, 'he took on the name Tryphon, and saw the light of the sirens. He became Ankyrian.' Tuwawi had thought her son truly dead and Caiaphas words to be nothing but a red herring -- but the bullet finally hit. The witch had managed to strike a crippling blow without even being present; like a sinister adder's poison finding purchase in its victim bitten long ago. 

"N-no!" she stammered, mind addled and expression shriveled "She isn't- I'm your mother! me! You were born here, by this creek. Your father and I -- you're father and I!" Tuwawi began to ramble as she became trapped somewhere between rage and grief. She wanted to rend Caiaphas' influence straight out of him, but the intangible was impossible to grasp. She swallowed hard and tried to be reasonable. "That witch called you Tryphon but you're Larus... my Larus. Please, listen to me," Tuwawi pleaded... perhaps to deaf ears.