Noctisardor Bypass I own that technology now.

seeing anselm waiting for her and hearing the demand in his voice set heda on full edge. "can you, for one moment, piece things together yourself?" while her voice lacked the earlier vitriol, it was still hard, closed to him. what right did he have to demand anything of her, let alone a reaction?
six children. a father who might be violent. a downed sister. rivenwood cracking. and dinah was still gone. if she had been left alone to dream of the island, she might be able to surface with a musical answer. but in the absence of that, what exactly wasn't her problem.
this was what she had now.
more than once over the last six hours had heda considered spiriting her sons somewhere else. somewhere not here. leaving, effectively. 
anselm had caught her at an especially dismal time; eyes puffy from the weeping that overtook the dream and ruined her sleep. 
she just wanted a break. the golden gaze wanted to be harsher but she simply could not muster it. heda kept moving, however; anselm could keep along and ask his inane questions if he wanted. if this man had simply married her after so eagerly covering her fertile body, she would be docilely nursing her children in the hollow, at peace, at the peace she finally was coming to feel she deserved.