Parting Gift|Aegestrom, Maelstrom

[Northen Light36]

"Couldn't I?" Shadow muttered bitterly. "She was my sister, Lya, in everything but birth. In some ways we were closer then even Damien and I were, or we had been before that stupid fight with Damien when we were young." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to keep his emotions under control. "We've been getting that closeness back since Dami died, since Aly was born. I should have known she wouldn't let it go. That she wouldn't hesitate to put herself between me and any threats." Shadow sighed sadly. "Tres always was protective. I should have dragged her here or told Thelon to keep an eye on her... Or..."

He cut himself off. He wasn't so upset that he couldn't recognise that saying 'Or stayed in Fira' would be a terrible idea. And he didn't have the strength for an arguement with his wife.

[Kender Bard]

Lya wasn't sure how to respond but for some reason the soft, reassuring sermons she'd been preached by the Etafians sprang to mind. "The past is immutable," she said quietly. "Just as you could have done many things different, so could have Tres, so could have Thelon, and everyone else who's had a hand in how things have turned out. You can't shoulder the burden of a collection of misfortune on yourself, and you can't change what has happened. Blaming yourself for it is... futile and destructive. Please, Shadow, don't tear yourself apart in your grief."

[Northen Light36]

Shadow sighed softly and was silent for a long moment. Then he rose and strode over to the window. "I want Lumi to see the Sanderson children again. I'm going to send Flash to try and get their mother's permission and I want you to give Lumi your blessing. She shouldn't be kept from her friends and she misses them."

[Kender Bard]

Lya was so surprised by the abrupt shift in conversation that she didn't even grow angry for a moment.

But only for a moment. "The Sandersons bear us no love and I would not have my daughter under the eye of someone who would scorn us for nothing that was our fault. I do not want Luminous to suffer guilt she shouldn't have to feel."

[Northen Light36]

"So you will inflict loneliness and unhappiness on her instead?" Shadow demanded. Oh look, he DID have the energy for a fight after all. "Luminous is more then old enough to make her own choice of friends, Lya. And to be aware of what is and isn't her fault." He turned to scowl at Lya.

"I don't like the Sandersons any more then you do," he told Lya, ice dripping from every word. "But Luminous does. And that is what's important. I will not be the cause of Luminous growing up without anyone she can truly call her friend. And neither our daughter or the Sanderson children should be punished because their parents are too caught up in bitterness to act like adults."

[Kender Bard]

"Our daughter has plenty of more favorable options," Lya told him sharply. "In Talen'sul. And no, she is not old enough to make her own decisions. She is a child. You might try to make her happy now, but it will mean very little when she winds up just like you--reviled by her own court, mocked behind her back. I am trying to protect her from that. But I suppose it doesn't matter, in the long run. You'll do as you like. You always do."

I don't even know why I'm here, she thought bleakly, and left the room in a huff.