Oswin made a soft noise of understanding in her throat and sighed a small breath shortly after. Not only was she familiar with being a parent, having six children of her own, but Oswin also knew very many things about the Lagoon and the environment there. When she had first joined the Peak, they had been at constant, bickering war with the rowdy bachelors of the Lagoon. It had seemed a timeless fight, and she had thrown herself right into the fray with vigor.

When she returned to the island years after the war and after the sister’s she had served with were long gone, Oswin found a very different Lagoon alongside an attempt at a different Peak. Yet even for all the experience shared between herself and Tyr and everything they tried so hard to work for to the benefit of the islands, they found themselves here in the Ridge, having had to swallow defeat and admit they did not have the support to enact the change they’d been so desperate to see.

“I am sorry you could not keep your child with you,” she said truthfully, “I am very familiar with the Lagoon.” Oswin respected his decision to allow his child to grow up somewhere safe away from becoming collateral damage to the dramatics that plagued the bachelor-riddled swamplands. She had never been able to do that herself with her own children, not that the Peak was as dangerous as the Lagoon for a child – but there had been times her children suffered from having to live alongside a politicking, high-ranking mother. She hadn’t always had the time for them like she had for Calder and Móirín in the Ridge.

“Tell me,” Her voice was softly curious, “What has become of the Lagoon that has made you feel like your child is unsafe there?” How bad was it there now? She felt a shiver of trepidation run down her spine as she waited to hear, wondering just how far apart things had fallen while she stayed hidden away in hers and Tyr’s own piece of paradise. Wanting to know his story, too, unaware of his exact position in the Lagoon, she added, “And why couldn’t you leave the Lagoon with them?”

oswin
this is as brave as I know how to be.
I know it’s gonna hurt you, but please… be a little proud of me.