Balanced, as all things should be

Aris' jaw dropped open as her father spoke. Torn between outrage and hurt she could only stare at him with a strangled grunt. What was he saying, that she was untrained still because she just hadn't worked hard enough? That she hadn't been interested enough in learning and so she'd been a failure? Was that how he had been viewing her all along? Was that why he had doted on Kotori and Briar instead, because he had felt they were better the whole time? Seeing that it wasn't a surprise when he disregarded completely her feelings about Sedna doing the bare minimum and being praised for it - after all, if he saw her as a failure there was no reason to consider her concerns with any gravity before dismissing them. She was just a child.

Already off balance and stinging, she wasn't prepared for his commands. She was required to assist Sedna as Sedna saw fit? He was practically making her Sedna's servant! Every day! Because she'd spoken out against her? She practically choked on her outrage as it swelled higher than the hurt.

If it weren't for that promise to find her a teacher, the very thing she had been trying to get the whole time, Aris might very well have exploded and made things much, much worse for herself. As it was she had to fight to keep a tenuous grip on her temper and her hurt until she could jam it all back and trust herself to speak. If he kept his promise to get her a teacher, it would all be worth it, wouldn't it? She would only need to be a servant for a couple hours a day for an unspecified period to gain the same right to training that other siblings had had given to them, but it would be worth it. Throat tight and ears on fire with humiliation, she could only manage, stiffly, "Yes, sir."