Blacktail Deer Plateau Maybe I'm homesick for it all

No doubt Erzulie and Rosalyn both had noticed that their golden daughter, usually lively and social, was plagued with anxiety of late. It had little bearing on her duties to the pack, for she'd truly scouted during the week she was away just like she said she would, but it would be nearly impossible for them not to notice something amiss with her ever since she was challenged. She wore her heart on her sleeve. Ying's departure should've lessened her anxiety, but instead, the whole display had only made it worse. She feared now what would happen to her if she ever proved unsatisfactory to her family... which was unfair to them for her to even think about, but anxiety was unfair in general.

Rosalyn's explanation made a lot more sense than Erzulie's did on the same subject. She was grateful for the different perspective; growing up she'd always thought Rosalyn was the fiercer of the two, but she often found her thoughts aligning with her pirate mother's. The older she got, the more true this seemed to become. Framing it as a test that the triplets had failed made it a little more palatable. Granted, she'd never seen that side of either of her mothers before, so even if it was a test, she still couldn't agree with the method. Is that why Ying challenged me and still refused to be respectful when she lost? Nieve wondered, swallowing a flutter of panic in her throat. Because she has more pride in her family than Rusalka?

Would Ying have challenged them all, given time? It wasn't something she liked to think about, but it put Rosalyn and Erzulie's intervention into clearer perspective if that was the concern that sparked all of this.