[This Interlude comic slots right into chapter 12, page 36.]

< Ah, er--Highness--Mari-- > Helly called softly after the Cynn, who paused and looked back.

much has been left unsaid.

(because,

you don't need it to be said, to know.)

raising you was the hardest thing I've done in my two millennia of life.

(and you know that;

you can't help but know that.)

the comforting lies that adults often tell to children--

< Father does not like it when he sees me, > Numair announced calmly. He was much smaller then, his mop of hair curlier and wilder, but his eyes were the same livid green. He explained, < I see a door when I see him. And it is shut and I can't go through. That's how I know. >

--I could not tell you those.

I could not say something like,

< Oh, but, I'm sure he loves you deep down, he is just not able to show it. >

because I knew it was a lie,

and so you also knew it was a lie.