Noctisardor Bypass trash mountain

Maybe Rivenwood offered everything that Sequoia wanted out of life, but it certainly wasn't what Laurel wanted. Not anymore. Everything had changed recently. When she had first come here Laurel thought the same as Sequoia did, and thought that maybe she deserved a second chance. But it turned out that she was only the second violin to Mahler's redemption story.

Laurel hated the thought that she was some sort of charity case just because he wanted to stick by some woman that Laurel hadn't ever even met. Wylla had not even come by to say hello to her or to bring her food to sustain her newborn children. That was how insignificant a speck on the face of the earth she was to this woman.

Sequoia asked if there was anything that Laurel didn't like. Her gaze hardened and she looked away, and pleasantries lost now.

Everything.

How could she even describe it? She felt both like a charity case and she felt whored out by Mahler. He was the only one she trusted and he had told her, he'd literally told her he wanted —

And then —

Laurel's eyes grew wet and she looked away, ashamed at the very thoughts. How could she possibly explain it to Sequoia? Sequoia was probably the closest thing that Laurel had ever had to a female friend, and it was precisely because of her experience in life that she fully expected Sequoia to only twist the dagger that Mahler had thrust into her heart.

Everything, she whispered, her voice cracking. Everything here reminds me of the false pretenses that Mahler has, of his superiority complex, of his complete lack of caring, of how little I mean — Laurel choked back a sob as she got to this part. Her body was tense and she looked away, fully expecting Sequoia to lash out at her in some way or another. She, after all, got precisely everything she wanted from Mahler. She wasn't a charity case. Why would she ever support someone like Laurel, when men treated her right?