Ralla stood in the tree hut, pacing the limited floor space in circles. Nootau sat off to the side on the windowsill, watching his charge do as she would to calm his nerves. The spirit guide was being deliberate, she knew, in letting her handle her child as she was currently; he was letting her learn a lesson, even if indirectly. But Ralla didn't quite appreciate it--at least not at the moment. It had been a almost a month since her and Ayasha's argument, and she had noticed that her eldest daughter was increasingly absent at night, as it was now with the moon shining its light through grey clouds. It was a ghostly kind of light, and didn't bode well in the sense of omens. It was almost like it mirrored Ralla's mind; there was a sense of what she had to do, but how she had to do it was obscured by emotions and other complicated things of the like...

Alaster, Ahiga, and Aleu were all safely in their beds, but still Ralla waited for her eldest to return. This matter needed to be settled soon--needed to be settled now--and she was growing more and more anxious with every step. And then finally she heard--rather, Nootau chirruped and alerted her to--someone coming, and peeked out the door. Without mistake that was her daughter approaching the tree house, so without preamble, the white mother stepped outside and tightly shut the door. With a stern stance she stood, waiting as her daughter climbed up the rope ladder, and there she was waiting. Where have you been, young lady? she asked in a firm tone.

Moon walks. "Moon talks." Moon thinks.

Ralla's blood had chilled when she heard the pack Anathema be mentioned. She did not hate the pack, but she was not pleased with it, either--not after her last visit. She had not been thrilled when she had learned that Leon had gone there, but Leon was not her daughter--Ayasha, going to that place...how she wished she had been taught how to discipline children better; perhaps things would not have come to this...!

Ralla did not respond after that. Although her tears brimmed silently, without a quiver of a lip or scrunch of the brow, Ralla only turned her head to the side as if she was not acknowledging Ayasha was there. It was clear where Ayasha's heart was, and it wasn't with her family; it was with this boy who posed as much of a threat as a catastrophe. Ralla was ramrod stiff as her daughter embraced her; she didn't acknowledge it or give it a return of any sort. If she was going to follow through with what she had said, she had to do it then...or risk breaking down and showing a weakness she herself did not want to acknowledge. Finally her eyes shut, and as she turned away she motioned her arm horizontally with the palm open towards Ayasha--a gesture meant to say: 'Leave; you are not welcome'. The white woman had had enough of this heartache, and if her daughter could be so set on her own destruction, then she would have no more part in it...

Without another word, Ralla walked the planks to the observatory and shut the door silently so that her youngest three would no longer be disturbed by their bickering. There were no windows in the observatory, so Ralla had only her ears to listen for if Ayasha descended back down the rope ladder to perhaps J'adore's or some other place... Only when she was absolutely certain that her eldest daughter had gone did Ralla fully cry, slumping against the door of the observatory and burying her face in her palms. Only twice had she cried like this--it was because of this heartache that she had said what she had... She hadn't wanted to, but it had been for Ayasha and her... Still...to her heart...

...it had not made a difference...

Moon walks. Moon talks. Moon thinks.