"He had her chained down," Sileas hissed. "There was little she could do. Unless you think I was weak and let him do what he did to me too." Sileas looked away as she carefully made her way down the stairs. "Not every injury can be grown out of Questa."

"At least yer fought 'im wen 'e 'urt yer." Questa said. "And yer ain't limpin' 'round like a cripple anymore, eever."

"Yehudit fought with him. Andy was pretty banged up and scratched when we found them." Sileas sighed. "He didn't crush my ankle either. He crippled me emotionally. Andy's the one who broke my confidence. I'm not soft because of having a family. I don't fight well any more because I decided I wasnt' a good fighter because I couldn't stop him."

"But it 'as made yer soft! Right! None of these fings would 'appen if yer stayed in a gang where yer 'ave ter take care of yorself instead of just dependin' on family ter keep yer safe. Bein' in a gang keeps yer strong." Questa said and swung a punch at Sileas's face to illustrate.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:59, Fri 24 July 2015.

Sileas grabbed Questa's hand in mid-swing and glared at her angrily. "Don't EVER do that when I am holding a baby or child. EVER." Her eyes blazed with anger. Then she lowered her voice to a growl. "You have no idea what I have done here with my family. I did not rely on them for protection. I Helped Papa many times going after criminals and bad guys. I was with MAX when Andy did what he did. And even MAX couldn't stop him, and he was a trained fighter by then."

"This way of livin' makes evry bloke soft. If yer weren't 'oldin' a baby yer could 'it me back." Questa said, twisting her arm free. "I've been sleepin' inside too much, right, normally I'd've broken yor nose."

"Not everyone wants to live a life based in violence. People need to grow and change. It's time you did too, Questa. It's time to grow up."

"That's 'ow the real world is. Cor blimey guv! Eever yer fight or yer get hurt even worse, right, or die." Questa said. "If yer get soft and weak yer get hurt and killed."

Thud thud thud.

In reply to Questa Cort (msg # 38):

"And I am telling you that up until Andy destroyed me and my life, I was able to. But you are hell bent on blaming it on having a life filled with love and contentment, which wasn't at fault at all. And while I would love to be able to defend myself and my sister, my confidence is still not what it should be." Sileas turned and walked away from Questa to find food for her sister.

Yehudit limped into the kitchen ahead of Sileas and Questa. Her ankle was killing her but she was not going to let on how much it hurt. She began looking for milk for Olivia.

Sileas accepted a bowl of thin stew from the survivor who was cooking with what supplies they had. If they couldn't find milk, the stew would have to do. Thank goodness that the triplets had begun eating some adult foods.

Questa looked at the scant food and sighed. It was hardly worth stealing. It would be better to clear out and go to another town, or better yet, a city.

For herself, Sileas chose a small chunk of bread, a bit of cold beef and a piece of cheese. She was far more worried about feeding Olivia than herself. "Any luck finding milk?" she asked of her cousin.

"Uh." Yehudit held up a pail. "A little."

"A little is better than none," Sileas said. She stuffed her own food choices into her cloak pocket and asked for a small bowl of the stew. At the very least, she could supplement the milk.

Sileas headed for a quiet corner and sat down.

Yehudit limped over and flopped on the floor next to Sileas.

Sileas set the stew on the floor and took the milk from Yehudit. She glared at Questa as she did so, still irate that Questa had tried to throw a punch at her while she was holding her sister.

"Wotcher so mad at me for?" Questa asked innocently, tucking a roll under her vest.

Yehudit was feeling really down. otherwise she might have noticed that Sileas was angry at Questa. All Yehudit knew was that her injured ankle had slowed her, and Sileas did not want her to go down to the kitchen with her. Yehudit suspected that Sileas would rather be around Questa instead of her.

"You know exactly why I am angry with you, Questa. You need to learn that life changes over the years, and people change. And now is the perfect opportunity for you to decide what you want to be. You're getting too old to be a street rat." Sileas practically spit the last out.

"But I'm a live street rat!" Questa said. "If I go soft I die."

Sileas spooned some milk into Olivia's mouth while allowing the stew to cool. "You have this misconception that only people on the streets are strong. You could not be more wrong. If I was soft, I never would have survived what Andy did. If any of us were soft, we would not be here right now in this keep, facing having to rebuild our lives. Strength and survival are not only about phsyical strength. But you'll never understand that."

"If I weren't a strong street rat I would've starved ter deaff a long time ago." Questa said.

Sileas growled but bit it back because she didn't want Olivia upset because she was angry. She turned all of her attention on Olivia before glancing at Yehudit. "Did you get yourself anything to eat?"