littlesisterswordâ:
pullofthebowstringâ:
âLetâs not forget it.â Jaliqia caught hold of Aikaâs elbow, expression stern, though it was open.
âFamily listens to one anotherâs concerns and tries to work with them. I cannot do that for you, my family, unless you speak your mind. A marriage is always built upon communication. It is best we learn to communicate now, Aika, instead of struggling later.â
She let out a short sigh. âBesides. There is always a reason to talk about whatâs bothering us.â
Aika rarely found such a reason, aside from not prolonging whatever conflict avoiding conflict had ironically caused. Her jaw tensed. She didnât want to discuss it, but she would need to if she wanted Jaliqai to leave her alone about it.
âI am afraid,â She managed, âNot of the crags necessarily, of leaving everything my-â Not home, she couldnât say home; not to Jaliqai. â-of never seeing the cove again.â
âI know-â What did she know? She had never left home, as in truly left it. âI know that once I leave I canât return, I canât visit, I canâtâŚâ
All of those things were true, and Jaliqaiâs expression softened at Aikaâs revelations. Of course she was going to miss her home, and the people she had known there.
Of course she could not return. Jaliqai knew this. She had been remiss in not addressing it sooner.
âAika...I know that it will be difficult to leave everything behind but -- in the end, it will be for the better. Your sister is not a kind woman, and eventually her wrath would have even fallen upon you. She would have tried to do something like burning you to death in a barn, rather than have her will defied.â
She reached out, making to tuck a lock of hair behind Aikaâs ear.
âMy family will never abuse you. IÂ will never abuse you. You will not have to live in fear anymore.â














