father of mine

"That's all I've been doing my entire life," she said, distress creeping into her voice. Maybe one year in this world didn't count for much against his maturity, but it was all she had. "Trying to be positive. Trying to look on the bright side. Looking on the bright side won't make the volcano un-erupt, or revive the thicket after it was razed to the ground... and it won't bring back Tana. Or Noir. And Verse is missing now, too," she spat, real venom leeching into her voice. It was easy to stand back and be angry, even better to have some kind of living thing to take her feelings out on.

Her hackles raised. "Rematch," she said tersely. The only real way she would be able to get this bitterness out of her system was to fight it out. She had been cooped up for a while now on Ibis and so had he. Wasn't he angrier that Motif was still missing? Why couldn't he be mad instead of sad? Theory slunk into a fighting pose, her ears laid flat against her head.