Grateful that everyone was inside, Sileas quickly found a secluded bench and sat down to wait for her aunt. Oh, she was not looking forward to this. It would have gone easier if Yehudit would have been agreeable to her talking to Aunt Lia at the onset.

"So what is it?" Liadan asked impatiently.

"I quite accidentally learned the causes of Yehudit's rages," Sileas said calmly. She clutched her hands in her lap and bit her lip. "It turns out she is a child of Molech. Bai and I are going through Keegan's books to try to find a way to cure her."

"Child of what?!" Liadan shook her head angrily. "How Yehudit came to be doesn't matter. She's my daughter, I love her. Aron raised her like she is his own, as far as he's concerned she is as much his child as the other children."

"I understand that. I know you and Uncle Aron both love her." Sileas sighed. "I'm not explaining this well, probably because I don't understand all of it. It's not specifically the how, but the who. When it's a follower of Molech, the babe is...possessed by Molech, I guess is the best way to put it. It's characterized by destructiveness, lust and..." she glanced at her aunt. "Uncontrollable rages. Difyr has ruled out every other cause."

Liadan got defensive.
"Every one of those rages had a reason, even if they're not obvious to everyone! I have a temper myself. That momzer she killed was trying to make her a slave! ANyone would have killed him!" Lidan conveniently left out how Yehudit repeatedly stabbed the man afterwards, and nearly destroyed his wagon in her rage.

"I realize that you have a temper also, Aunt Lia. And you're right, anyone would have killed that man. But I also have seen the worry in your eyes when she can't be talked down. I've heard the worry in your voice when you've talked to Difyr about it. I'm not saying it's her fault or anyone's fault but those men. And Molech's. But we both have seen the rages are getting worse...do you think I enjoyed knocking her out that one time she couldn't be talked down, Aunt Lia? Yehudit's like a sister to me, I don't want to have to harm her everytime she gets angry and won't calm down."

"Yehudit just needs to learn to control her temper is all." Liadan said angrily. "Aron loves her like his own, that's all that matters."

"Yehudit learning to control her temper hasn't worked so far, has it? And by the way, I doubt this would change anything about Uncle Aron's love for her. But if you don't want us to find a way to help her, I'll tell Bai to only look for ways to fight the mermen." Sileas got to her feet. "But remember, if Yehudit hurts an innocent, it is on you then. I actually want to help her."

"She doesn't have anything to do with Molech." Liadan said stubbornly. "Mermen are more of a threat to innocents than Yehudit."

"No, not instigated by her." Sileas sighed. "I'll reserve my judgment on who's a threat, since she's tried to kill me at least once." She got to her feet. "I have told you what I know, now I'm going to return to my betrothed. I will let Bai know that as her mother, you deny the truth and don't want any help from her."

"I don't want him anywhere near her!" Liadan snapped.

"Fine. Then you need to find a way to keep her from me. I have a babe to protect!" Sileas shot back and headed back to Wulfsen.

"Yehudit would never hurt you!" Liadan shouted at Sileas's back.

Sileas froze in place. "You should ask Haroth about that."

"That was Galina's fault." Liadan angrily excused Yehudit.

"And she was involved with Molech having a part in this. Do you forget when she herself said that Yehudit and I were created to destroy the family? She just didn't count on Keegan being my father instead of whoever she sent to my mother."

"Galina lies." Liadan said. "This Bai probably works with her."

Sileas rolled her eyes. "And you are either in severe denial, or you don't care that she would have to live with the guilt if she does something that harms innocent people. If it were my child, I would be looking for anyway possible to help her." Sileas snorted. "You were looking for ways until we figured out the problem, now you want to ignore it."

"It's just a bad temper." Liadan said. "Yehudit hasn't hurt anyone for a long time."

"Wow. You are even denying your own concerns about it. That's not just a bad temper and you know full well that it's not. But since this conversation is pointless because you are refusing to see the truth, we'll just say it's over. I've told you what happened, you are now in the know."

"I was already in the know." Liadan said. "This whole child of Molech thing is lies."

"I hope it's not one of your other children that she manages to hurt. And since you refuse to let anyone try to help, I'll be certain to have Wulfsen assign me a guard." She headed back for the dinner, trying to not shake.

"Yehudit shouldn't be around you anyways." Liadan snarled. She went to find Aron, he had to know the despicable lies Bai and Sileas had been telling their daughter.

Xo sat on the grass under a tree. Wynn joined her, carefully carrying a plate piled high with food. He handed the plate and cup to Xo so he could sit down without spilling them. Xo set the plate on a smooth rock and took a sip of the water. Wynn flopped down on the grass. Xo looked at the food for a while before selecting a roll and picking at it.

"I don't want to talk about it." Xo said. "But I have a good idea about what you suspect went on when I was captive to those raiders. Whatever you're thinking happened to me with them, it happened. Different people, different place, same stuff that went on in the catacombs and the Black Raven." Xo tore the roll in half and flung it away. "I don't need to talk about that stuff again."

"I wish I was there... to stop it." Wynn said.

"Even if you were there you couldn't have stopped it. Remember how it was in the Black Raven? Whenever you tried to stop it you just got hurt and it happened anyways. I appreciate you trying to help me, but I can't be helped." Xo shook her head. "This is just how my life is. It's happened before and it will probably happen again."

"It can't happen again." Wynn said. "There has to be some way of stopping these things from happening to you again.

Xo shrugged. She did not know why these things kept happening to her, but they did. She did not think there was anything she or Wynn could do to stop it from happening again. She had tried to make a life for herself after she got away from the Black Raven, but she kept getting dragged back to being used by evil people.

"Look, this is one of the rare times in my life when bad things aren't being done to me." Xo said. "Let's at least try to enjoy that even if I still feel sick and half dead inside." She picked up a piece of honey cake.