章 137: Compassion

ELIA

Elia sat at the table with the women's council, all of them laughing and teary-eyed from Aymora's story about a pair of young lovers she'd interrupted inside the storage tree they were using for the Festival.

"He fell over, right into the banner line and got twisted up, and she just kept squawking."

"What did you do?" Elia was always fascinated about how open the Anima were about anything to do with mating.

"I told him to stop waving the flags at me and tidy up after himself after he was done."

The women erupted with a new wave of laughter. Elia couldn't breathe for a moment. But as they slowly calmed, she considered again how precious these women had become. Their practical approach to any crisis—along with their humor—made even the difficult aspects of ruling so much easier.