The word 'family' caused Monderyn to clench his fists so tightly that he looked like he would draw blood from his palms at any second. He barely kept back his temper by the time Ahnasha finished speaking. Whether it was fear or personal moderation, he did not raise his voice in the end. He merely avoided eye contact with Ahnasha and spoke through grit teeth.

"An army of lycans couldn't repair this family, Ahnasha."

"Monderyn!" Calia cut through them both with her firm voice. "You will cease this rude behaviour!"

Monderyn's shoulders lifted a finger's width in surprise. After another second, he lifted his forearm and shot back. "How are you suddenly so happy with everything, mother? A day ago, you were just as miserable as you have been for four years! Now father has disowned Fendros and you're following along with all this as if that never happened? How could things improve from here? Things have gotten worse and they continue to get worse!"

"That is where you are wrong, my son." Calia answered with a calm assertiveness. It was a tone that even rivalled Meesei's authority. "Tradition is important. No one knows that better than your father. I, however, know something better than anyone present here, including you. We can choose to heal." Calia's face was just as severe, but her voice lowered. "Your brother is alive. I have not wished for something harder in my long years on Nirn than that. If the payment for that is that he has been lost to something as ephemeral as our traditions, I would pay it ten times over."

Monderyn's eyes flicked between Calia and Fendros. "And what if father doesn't?" Monderyn asked. "Will we just...have to live with a wall being between him and Fendros? How long do we pretend before we have to pick a side, hm?"

Calia knew her response in barely half a heartbeat. "You may be young, Monderyn, but you are not your father. You need not hide in his shadow like you hid behind Fendros' before."

Partly angered, partly confused, Monderyn lowered his brow and didn't say anything.

"Monderyn," Llarasa's quite voice chimed in. "Things will get better. I know it."

Monderyn looked ahead, still without an answer.

[hr]
Harriet regarded Lorag from under a raised brow where she was seated. She shrugged and quickly shook her head. "I don't know what you want me to say," she complained. "I keep her in line, she stands up for herself with the other kids -- even if I gotta pull her away so she don't infect 'em -- she's for sure not gonna grow up without knowin' how to hunt and fight. Shit, I'm doin' the best with what I got." Harriet raised her hands in a fluster. "What, are you offerin' to do it for me or somethin'?"