She is wholly her mother. I know this now - or at least, it is more obvious than ever. Before I had merely hoped it to be the case but the more I am around my granddaughter, the more I understand. Achlys, Ehiyeh, Ava...they are all within her. The Asteraian? No. His blood was but a drop into an ocean of better fortune.

How does one give up the right to live? I let out a small tch, amused by the question. It is a good one, after all. I'm sure I've already lost the right but nobody has come to claim the debt. "Equivalent exchange," I shrug though I meet her eyes when I continue, "he took something that coud be repaid by no other means than his life." Because he had forcefully given blood, I had forcefully taken. He gave life and so, I gave death. He caged Ehiyeh and so I freed him. Perhaps, at the end of it all, he had received the lighter sentence. I do not think on it long for I know that right now I am trekking across thin ice; Adonai is clever. I have no doubt she will keep digging, be it now or later, and so I must ensure there are things that remain hidden until then.

When she speaks, I cannot help but permit a small grin to linger on my lips; she has her mother's gift of words. "Agitated? Secrets are not always agitating, Adonai. Just as the sea provides, so can secrets." Safety, security, comfort. Secrets could provide them. "It is lies, Adonai, that cause the waves to stir. It is why I asked you for a lie: what is the difference between a lie and a half truth? Which did you really tell?"