Foggy Bottom Way [m] el mar

vision narrowing. aquillius would kill this woman. valiria would be injured. cornelius had ended his scuffling.

imperator once more.

and as imperator germanicus took a long step forward. silvertongue's teeth bit heavily into his wrist but he brought his other down across the back of her neck, stunning the woman into a swift darkness.

when her tense body had loosed beneath valiria, he looked to aquillius. "release her."

the three would then see their father look down upon the downed woman, the small paragon of all the sorrows combined he had ever put into the world.

he could not go back to kvarsheim. he could not go back to the valley. his mind worked in self-preservation. swiftcurrent would come back for silvertongue and his action would deepen what pain there was for riverclan.

"move. now," he ordered them, a centurion to soldiers on a battlefield sodden with an abrupt rain. deeper into the desert for now.

and when they had moved away from her, germanicus would tear his gaze aside in effort, and follow.

and not until he was far from this place would he fall to his haunches and find himself stricken with the horror, the final horror, that he had done.