Blackwater Islands so a consort and a harlot walk into a bar

Kalika spoke, demeanor changing like the flip of a coin.

There it was. That cold, clinical derision that was now so familiar. Whip's ears fell flat against the top of his head. He arched his back and his shoulders rolled forward defensively. "I just --" Whip started to mumble. "I just miss my family sometimes." Whip had always found discussing his emotions difficult, so this was a stark understatement. He did not miss his family sometimes, he missed them all the time. Nearly every waking moment, Whip thought of the paretns that he had taken for granted.

"Why'd the Mothers let me live when they had to die?" he asked. "Why am I different?" Deep down, there was a little resentment harbored in Whip's dry, loveless heart. "Akantha says it was the will of the sea, but the Mothers won't tell me why."