Sagitta arrived a bit earlier than their intended meet-up time. A habit she learned from Buir. Silent footsteps down the hall as she made a right turn to his office. A soft smile curved on her lips when she sees Wulfram already there. Throwing the ball up in the air. She hesitated entering for a moment. She wanted to hug him.
He wasn’t sure if he would be open to that. “Morning Buir,” Sagitta said cheerily. “How are you?” She asked, figuring they could do a bit of small talk before going into the real reason why they were meeting up.
To put things on the table and remove them once and for all.
“Morning Ad'ika, punctual as ever.” Wulfram said through a small smile as he turned to look at the clock on the wall.
His routine of catch, release, throw, repeat, went on uninterrupted as she made her way into the room and made her attempt at small talk. The fabric of his uniform wrinkling and smoothing over with each throw.
“I’ve been well enough. Tired more than usual, but, what can you expect after you become the head of a Galaxy Spanning Police and Rescue agency, when you’re only used to policing a handful of children?” He joked as he waited for his daughter’s normal sunshine demeanor and hug to break through.
“How about you, Sagitta, how have you been? I know things have been a bit rough lately.”
“I would hope so! You’re the one that taught us after all, Buir.” She grinned and walked around the desk to hug him tightly. Life was too short to not hug after all. Then she plopped onto the chair. “Not too bad! Training a lot. Trying to get to know more people in my base. It’s a bit… different. Separated. I always believed in teamwork and the importance of developing relationships. I wanted to know if they got my back not because we worked for the same base but because-” She sighed, frustration showed through for a moment before she shook her head. She didn’t want to go on a rant with him about her problems.
“And we both know that’s not why I’m here. Let’s just rip off the band-aid. First one, ba'buir… Douve?” Her brows furrowed for a moment. “That is… I am partly to blame.” She leaned forward, her hands clasping together. “Buir and Ba'buir look so much alike but I never stopped and-” She paused. “Why did you not have us call her Buir Douve? And why didn’t Buir - Lillian - know about her buir involvement with us?”
The ball stopped and Wulfram sat up in his seat, his eyes intent upon his sunshine daughter before she came to hug him. He returned her hug and smiled as she threw herself into her chair.
“Ah, the joys of new friends.” He chuckled, before she shifted topics.
“Because she is not Ba'buir Douve. She took our name, she became Armis, after her Riduur sold her and Alexandyr as slaves for his own foolish pride. For much the same reason Alexandyr only uses the name as a formality to differentiate himself legally but when asked introduces himself as Alexandyr Armis.”* Wulfram sighed, the long awaited conversation was upon them.
“And Lillian… She lived with a man guilty of many crimes, against kith and kin. Your Ba'buir wished to be kept hidden until she knew how to interact with Lillian. It was not my place to reveal it. If you had realized and said something then it would have been a different game, because you were not asked to keep a secret.” Wulfram levied to Sagitta, laying the cards on the table between them to explain it all.
Dirt and grease covering her skin, Erin wiped the sweat from her brow as she made her way to the communications room. A few flourishes to her data pad and a sigh of exhaustion, she entered the room, breaking her tired expression to smile at Lillian. “Hi Mom.” she said, jovially. “Hopefully I’m not interrupting anything important?”
“No, you didn’t ask us to make it a secret. The risk was there. You said she wasn’t ready but she didn’t tell us which would’ve run the risk of this blowing up way wors - You know what-” She stopped as she sighed and tilted back on her chair and run her fingers through her hair. “I’ve been working on trying to stop with my what-ifs mindset.” She chuckled softly. “I think that was a moment of that.”
Silence followed. Her fingers interlaced behind her neck, while her arms relaxed. “Quick. Clean. Merciful.” She said softly. Those three words were conditioned in the girls’ minds. Mostly Asani and Sagitta. Arden arrived later and so did Erin. She’s not quite sure of the influence of those three words on her younger sisters yet. “I’m… aware you did not fire the killing shot. But that…” She sucks the air between her teeth and exhaled sharply. “Buir. What were you thinking? It would’ve been easier to kill him. There’s nothing good that can come out of torturing- correct me if I’m wrong. It was against everything you have raised and taught us.” Her arms started trembling a bit, the memories were still rough with her. The smell of iron and other bodily fluids. The sight of it all. Lillian cries. One of her legs started to bounce slightly. A tear betrayed her control as it slipped down her cheek as she started to remember her first kill.
How he helped her. Her rifle was shaking. Quick. Clean. Merciful.
Her hero did none of that.
A sharp exhale escaped through her nose as she free her hands to wipe the tear away and waited.
Chris walked by the office and saw the rather… emotional family drama unfolding. He wave Wulfram a quick wave as he kept on moving by, trying his best not to interrupt as he was doing his regular patrol of the ship to make sure nothing needed repairs, he just had the arms room left, which would take a while without help.
“Because the blow would have been softer coming from a child, than from her lover. Than from someone who went through the fires of hell with her as a child, and who was asked to keep the secret after he rescued the woman. Because that man… Because I would have killed Zerril if I had been allowed to. I was also asked specifically not to do that, by both Lillian and Vera. If you girls had exposed her existence, things would have been very different, because of your innocence.” As she drew back on her statement regarding ‘What-ifs’ he sighed.
“Quick. Clean. Merciful. That’s how you kill. When you intend to kill, you kill the target quickly. You make the kill clean. And you do it mercifully. If you intend to kill them.” He doubled down. “Zerril was never meant to die. He was meant to be embarrassed. Have the turmoil he gave each of us returned to him. Then be returned to the people he claimed were his own. To the Kyr'stad. Disarmored, helmetless, with no Clan Affiliation, and his secrets laid bear after he admitted to what he had done. He’d denied for thirty-seven years selling Alexsandyr and Vera into slavery. He’d learn that his actions were against everything The Creed stood for, or he’d prove that my hatred for the Kyr'stad was right and I’d burn them all out too.”
Wulfram sighed and placed his hand on Sagitta’s shoulder.
“Ad'ika, I also taught you, the world is cruel, and each of us needs to be better than those before us. We need to teach to be better than we are. I am not perfect. I hold myself to high standards, and I rarely break them, but I am flawed. I taught you, Asani, Arden, and Erin to be better than me. To make a better Galaxy than the one that tortured me. Than men like Zerril, or me, have made for you. I aimed to put a monster’s ambitions to rest, without murder. To return the hurt he gave me and Lillian to him, and return him home to live in his shame.”
Thirty five minutes had been spent looking into files and dossiers and field reports on a certain Human male. Lillian was determined to learn everything she could about Cole Farrow. Emerald eyes squinted at the datapad in her hands as Lillian idly spun in one of the chairs in the communications room, wearing her armor but not her helmet, her hair down in shoulder-length russet curles, focused on the task at hand.
She needed to know exactly what route she had to take if the karking bastard ever hurt her ad'ika.
The sound of the door to the room opening broke her from her intense studying and forced her to look up from a mission report. Her dark expression immediately softened as her brain registered that it was Erin in front of her and not the man she was researching. The elder Mandalorian shook her head and placed her datapad down.
“No, never interrupting. What’s up kiddo? Taking a break?”
Sagitta didn’t realize she had been chewing on her cheek. Zerril. That was his name. He wasn’t meant to die and Ba'Buir Vera was the one who stepped in. Though she wondered if what they had planned for Zerrill’s fate was even worth it. It could anger him more and they would’ve been more in trouble than ever before. That kind of shame either puts out the fire or makes the fire roar higher and faster.
Her body flinched slightly at Wulfram’s hand on her shoulder. “You’re perfect to me, Buir. Don’t you get that? Despite everything. You raised four amazing girls. You became an officer. You are constantly improving yourself. Your childhood didn’t stop you-” She stopped and grimaced. Unable to go on.
Her eyelids closed for a moment as she used the back of her hand to wipe the tears away. She had no idea she had been bottling things up for days. Weeks even. Everything was moving so fast and they never got to sit down to talk about this. She was exhausted.
And yet, she had a mission with the Envoy Crops. Her eyes darted to the time for a moment. She still had some time before she needed to meet Marick. She cleared her throat. Wiped her face some more. Time to put her emotions back down.
“I don’t have a lot of time. I’m meeting Marick Tyris soon.” Her hand reached into a bag. “I need you to not be mad at me.” She said softly. “I wasn’t going to tell any of you this. Cole, a friend of mine back at the base, had convinced me to talk to you.” She typed a few things on her datapad and paused for a moment. With a deep inhale, she handed the datapad to him. It was the site that was used to find targets. Different missions. For mercenaries. And Sagitta was the target.
Or more specifically, Sofila Kain'ena Iohaa Sunarro. Her real name.
“He’s alive, Buir.”
Her voice became strong and confident. “And he is mine, to kill. Will you give me that freedom?” She stopped there, waiting to see what Buir would say. His answers would depend on if she would tell him more or not.
“Looking for more work, actually.” Erin placed her personal datapad down, shutting it off so it wouldn’t distract her. “I was hoping you might have something I could do. I can’t really do much on the outside while the ship is moving.” Sitting at the desk across from Lillian, she placed her elbow on top, leaning into it. tired yet focused eyes glanced up at Lillian as the diligent child spoke up once more. “I’ve always wondered what you do, maybe I can help you with some of your work?”
Wulfram’s hand moved from Sagitta’s shoulder to her cheek as she began to cry. His weary eyes brightened after her words and he wiped away some of her tears himself.
He waited for the little ray of sunshine to steel herself and come around to what she wanted to say. His hand retracted from her and he sighed with fatherly content.
“Marick is good people and it sounds like Cole is as well.” Wulfram commented as he took the datapad from her.
“Kark. Should have aimed for his sternum, not his stomach. Ruptured aorta bleeds faster, but I didn’t want you to see your father actually die in front of you.” Her Buir spoke as he leaned forward and pressed his elbows down on the table. “That’s proof of Quick, Clean, Merciful. When you mean to kill and you don’t keep those in mind, you get blowback like this bastard. Revenge is a dirty road. It dirties your hands like mine.”
The Mandalorian looked down to his hands and sighed as he clenched them.
“I won’t stop you. But I will warn you. It’s hollow after you’ve done it.”
‘…and it sounds like Cole is as well.’
Her cheeks flushed as she tried to continue on like that did not just happen. But the smile on her face was obvious.
“You would like him. He chastised me for trying to go after Serpens, alone.” She made sure to point out the last part. Cole wouldn’t give a damn if she had someone but… she did pull a stupid move.
“It turned out to be a trap. I’m fine, obviously.” She grinned at Wulfram then sighed in slight annoyance, “Cole also managed to convince me not to do this alone. Again.”
Sagitta glanced down at her datapad while Wulfram spoke. “I don’t think of revenge. More as trying to clean up loose ends and to remove the target off of my back.” Now she was doubting herself. Was she after revenge? She barely remembers what happened but she remembered it well. And she wanted it to be her mission and the one to kill him. Was that revenge?
Kriff. Which one was it? Her arms crossed across her chest. It’s been a long week for her.
*‘It’s hollow after you’ve done it.’ *
Sagitta’s lips curved downwards into a frown. She doesn’t entirely know what he meant. Someone could feel hollow? What does a hollow feeling feel like? Was that something she wanted to experience or discover?
“I-” She paused, unable to process or put together words.
A soft sigh, a motherly sigh, escaped Lillian. Her girls… always doing the most possible. If they were going to pick up anything from her, she wished it wasn’t that. The redhead placed her datapad down and shook her head.
“Oh Erin… You know it’s not a crime to take a break, right? To rest. Our bodies need it,” her voice was softened just a little, missing it’s usual rough tone. She remembered the days, weeks, months, years after Wulfram left. Throwing herself into saving her clan, running herself ragged, after Zerril had convinced her that her childhood best friend didn’t want her and never would. After he convinced her that Wulfram had abandoned her.
“I don’t want any of you to end up old and spent and worn like me, ad'ika.”
“You all do so much for me though, I…” Erin sat up in her chair, a worried look on her face, her eyes betraying how deep in thought she had become. Her mind wandered slightly, as she briskly relived all the memories she’d made in her short time with her new family, yet being forced to stay behind while her family undertakes dangerous missions. “I’m grateful for all that everyone has done for me, yet I feel like a freeloader. I want to be useful.” Her expression softened. “It’s the least I can do when you’re all risking your lives.”
“You’re conflicted.” Wulfram said firmly as he set himself upright in his chair and turned to stand.
“I understand what you want to do. You want to take the target off of your back. Off of all of our backs. You think if they’re going to come after you, they’ll start going after others too. Worried about the pain we’ll be in if something happens to you. And like you always do, you ran into gunfire, alone, to try and solve your problems, without thinking of how that would make all of us feel.” Her buir spoke as he shook his head and flicked on the holoviewer in the room.
“You know our resources are open to you. The Respite. Clan Armis. The Marshals. If that bastard targets one of us, he targets all of us, and if they’re in Dajorra, they’re in treading in violation of our laws.” The elder Mandalorian spoke as he began to punch keys until the last known records of her father were pulled up.
“I won’t stop you from going after him, but I don’t want you to turn into me because of it. Give him the chance to let the old him die, to let him kill the memory of you so that you can live on in peace, Sagitta, and have many more Adventures.” Somber words as he stared into the eyes of the Mirialan on the display.
A scarred hand hesitated before resting softly on top of Erin’s head. Lillian’s expression was a complex one, a mixture of sadness, tiredness, and confliction. She couldn’t tell the youngest foundling that she knew how she felt because she didn’t know, couldn’t understand. She had held weapons as long as she could remember, sparred since she was old enough to understand what it meant.
But she didn’t want that for her children.
“Erin, I want you to listen to me carefully, okay?” The mandalorian’s tone was still soft but now it held a deliberateness to it, “Me and Wolsha, all we’ve ever known is fighting. We wear the scars of the decisions our people made. I do not want that life for you, for any of you. Fighting is not the only measure of our being, and it seems like my dumbass brother and Arden are the only ones who understand that.”
Lillian ruffled the small Human’s hair before removing her hand and sitting back in her chair, giving an apologetic half-smile for the swear she knew would make the younger one unsettled.
“We want you to be more than us. We want you to live in comfort and make your own decisions. You do not need to work yourself to the bone, little one. Just being here, thriving, growing, is enough.”
Flinching slightly as Lillian rested her hand on Erin’s head, the youngling listened to each word she was told, carefully committing each sentence to memory. A tear formed in the corner of her eye, the child still not used to the affection she was being given since her ordeal. Fists balled and clenched at her lap, Erin’s muscles tensed as she wormed her way through the anguish behind her mother’s words, her concentration breaking with her hair being ruffled.
Erin didn’t know what to say in response. She’d been so caught up in trying to give back that she’d forgotten to take care of herself. A smile crept along her face, a few tears trickling while Erin was lost in thought, not noticing she held her mother in a soft embrace until moments later. “Mom…” Erin’s words slurred slightly. “Don’t ever leave me. Don’t make me go through that again.” Her voice getting raspy and her grip around Lillian tightening, Erin was bombarded with multiple conflicting emotions, though mostly happiness and fear. The past seven years had begun catching up with her while she gave herself a moment’s rest.
‘You’re conflicted.’
Sagitta grimaced before slowly nodding. No need to hide anything from Buir. He could see the girls fight in the back of his head. Then she scoffed at Wulfram. Pot meet Kettle. A chuckle escaped from her lips. “And I’m not going to stop. I will do everything to always come back alive. But Buir, if I didn’t know any better, it’s who we are.”
Sagitta stood up as well as she listened. She laughed before shaking her head. “Come on, Buir,” she started, her tone had a bit of bitterness, “It’s Serpens. He’s a coward. He put a nice price on my head while he hides somewhere and is constantly moving. I’m not sure where he is exactly yet but I do have someone I trust on the inside. We need time.” She reached over and patted him on the arms. “I’ll debrief you more when I can.”
The Mirialan listened. This was all too much for her. Her hands rubbed her face. Kark. She didn’t think she would be learning so much in short time of moving out.
Adventures. Sagitta removed her hands from her face and practically beamed, “I’m not planning to stop my Adventures anytime soon.”
She knew she needed more time. To process. Speaking of adventures, her eyes darted to the time before yelping, “I’M GOING TO BE LATE TO SEE MARICK!” With that, she quickly grabbed her bag and gave a peck on Buir’s cheek. “Bye! Tell everyone I love them and see you soon!” She ran out.
Rapid footsteps faded before they stopped, squeaking noises of her Mandalorian’s shoes suddenly stopping on the ship’s floor. Footsteps volume increased. Sagitta ran back in and grabbed her datapad. “Almost forgot this!” And left once again.
Wulfram chuckled as his daughter came bounding back in for her datapad and vaulted out once more. His eyes tracked the visual of Sagitta’s father for a few moments more before he cleared the search and headed out into the hall towards the armory.
“Winchester, got yourself buried in here yet?” He called after Christopher as he keyed his entry code and made his way in.
Ah. She had overdone it.
Wulfram was better at this kind of thing, knowing which buttons to push and which ones to ease up on. A heavy frown formed on the woman’s features as she hugged Erin close. For a moment she didn’t see the youngest foundling there, she saw herself. Broken, beaten, pleading to be loved, dark red hair stained with her blood or someone else’s. Scars already shining at such a young age, no matter how much Wulfram tried to protect her.
She’d pick fights with those who slandered her family and rub dirt in their wounds, spit in their faces.
She wanted a better life for her girls.
Another heavy sigh, but this time it shook with the tears she held back. To be so young and already have so much on her shoulders… her heart hurt for the youngest daughter of the Armis clan. Fingers gently combed through Erin’s hair, careful to not catch on snags.
“I won’t leave, never again. I promise. I’m so sorry. Erin.”
The youngling held onto her mother for a little longer, fingers running through her hair while she let her emotions flow. After a minute or two her tears seemed to dry, and she spoke in a soft voice. “No, I know you have to go.” Her speech nearly a whisper, Erin pulled a hand to her face, wiping her eyes one at a time. “I just wish there was something more I could do. I worry each time everyone leaves that they won’t come back.” Erin’s remaining arm tightened around Lillian again, her heart racing with heavy beats for a moment more before it started to slow, the warm embrace helping her cope.
Sagitta was running down the hallway. Her head turned to see them. “Hey, guys!” Then a few more rapid footsteps.
The squealing of her boots against the floor could be heard. When she suddenly stopped moving, there was a sound of thud. Her body had hit the floor. “I’m okay!” She shouted as she got up and ran back into the room, “Hi, notime, Ihaveamission” - She leaned down and kissed Lillian on the cheek and then grabbed Erin’s face, slightly squishing it like she always did, and kissed her forehead, right cheek, left cheek, and top her head. “You tell me who hurt you and I’ll beat them after my mission, okay!?” With a beaming smile, she ran off again.
“I-”‘ Lillian caught herself before continuing, taking a second to chew on her words before she continued, “We all die some day, little one. Me and Wulfram hopefully sooner than any of you. It’s the cycle of things– if no one died, we wouldn’t appreciate life.”
The elder mandalorian resisted the urge to use the much too grim for the situation phrase “to live is to die”. Despite it being true, she knew the saying would likely do more harm than good.
“But just because we are dead doesn’t mean we are gone, yeah? We are kept alive by those who remember us, by those who come after, the ones we raise. Death isn’t a sad thing, ad'ika. Death is a release, death is a comfort.”
Was she doing this right? Saying the right things?
Sagitta appeared, tearing the redhead from her thoughts as the Mirialan planted a kiss on her cheek and Erin’s forehead, word vomiting something about a mission before disappearing just as quick as she had come. Lillian was left there, blinking from the suddenness of the affection, watching where Sagitta had disappeared around the corner.
The Force wiggled it’s way into her brain as she stared at the spot where the second eldest foundling of the Armis clan had once stood, and she felt her heartbeat kick up in response. A warning at first, but then relief. She found herself scoffing mentally at the vagueness of the premonition, her brain echoing back to the force ’if you’re gonna tell me, tell me. Don’t karking tease me‘.
Erin felt herself calming down in her mother’s arms, a soothing presence for what seemed like an eternity. Her tears dried up, Erin felt herself returning to her senses, but only for a moment. With Lillian’s choice of words came a resurgence of the child’s past, bubbling up to the surface like magma. The hair on the back of Erin’s neck stood up, and a chill was sent down her spine as she started having a small panic attack. Her breathing started getting heavier, sweat beaded on her forehead, and her vision blurred as she remembered what had happened to her years before. The death and destruction, the loss of her family, her friends, her home. The pain of having to live on without their smiles, and be tortured by their screams in nightmares for years to come. An intense aura surged from Erin, as objects in the room that weren’t tied down started shaking. Both of their datapads shifted slightly, and Lillian herself would feel a growing pressure trying to push her backwards as the child relived the moments she lost everything. Her heart raced, pounding on her chest as if to escape– everything seemed to stand still for Erin.
Erin felt her head suddenly jerk, snapping her out of her trance. Sagitta had entered the room, said a few words, kissed the both of them, and left. The young human could not understand anything her sister was saying though, her senses still warped. The room calmed down around her, the small girl oblivious to what had just happened, items shifted slightly in their normal home. Tilting her head back, Erin looked to Lillian for at least some idea of what had just happened.
Lillian blinked at Erin a few times in quick succession as she registered the child’s awakening, her expression blank if only for a moment before slipping into a carefully constructed mask of reassurance. Hands slowly raised, reaching out to Erin but not contacting the teen unless she allowed.
“Erin, darling, breathe. Deep breaths. Are you okay?” the woman inquired, her voice soft.
The mandalorian remembered the first time the force inched it’s way into her mind, waking up a sweating mess in her bed with the image of burning flesh burnt into her brain with the cries of a voice she recognized but couldn’t place. She remembered how bad her head hurt, how it felt like someone had stabbed a beskad into her temple and then twisted it.
Emerald eyes quickly assessed the youngest Armis daughter, looking for any warning signs that the child could be entering shock or a dangerous state of being.
Sweat trickled down her flushed red face, Erin semi-consciously staring at the blurred face in front of her. A moment’s reprieve from the horrors of her mind granted to her by her sister’s interruption, but as soon as it had stopped it had begun once again. Pulling back away from Lillian, Erin tried to speak, but her words got caught in her throat. Terrified, Erin brought her legs to her chest, the youngling turtling just like the many months after she had just been adopted into the family. Before long, Erin was right back in her trance, the agony of her people echoing through her skull as she clamped her hands tightly around her ears to blot out the pain. Her lips mouthed the names of those she’d lost, a voice unable to be heard apart of the rattling of the room around her that had rerturned.
“Buried with what, it’s just the weekly inspection making sure none of your kids forget to lock up their weapons on board.” Chris looked up from the datapad he was looking at the give a grin towards Wulfram, “How’s the new posiition fitting there sheriff?”
“Ad'ika. Ad'ika, Erin, breathe.” Lillian would move to the Human child and try to gather her small face in her hands, a deep frown on her face. Shit shit shit, the thought bounced around in her head as she began to painc. She wasn’t good at this, wasn’t good at “comfort”. Her fingers let go of Erin for just a moment so she could send a message to Wulfram through their comms.
SOS. Comm room.
Wulfram chuckled as he began to run down the inventory on another tablet. His eyes fell on Chris as the man asked him a question and his laughter grew a little more.
“Sheriff? I guess that’s a solid analogue. Job’s been good, a lot of paperwork. Basically making sure that the Marshals know the regs, getting the new badges minted, uniforms sorted. Basically, I’m a glorified clerical worker at the moment, and honestly, if it’s letting me spend more time with the kids, I’ll take it.” He chuckled as he checked in the condition of Asani’s DL-44.
When a beacon popped up on his wrist alerting him to a message from Lillian, the elder Mandalorian took the message and sighed.
“Though it seems we’ll have to discuss it more at length later, Winchester, I would love for you to join us as a member of the Marshals. You and your teams’ skillset are invaluable for our kind of work.” He said as he backed out from the Armory and turned towards the Comm Room and the scene unfolding with Erin and Lillian.
“Erin shutting down again?” Wulfram questioned as he slid into the room and took a space up beside the pair.
Oblivious to the room around her, Erin remained in her chair, her face buried between her knees. Hands futilely clasped around her ears soon clawed instead, her eagerness to escape her continuous nightmare unfolding before her once more aggressively shown to her elders. Her datapad fell to the floor, barely saved from breaking by the forces trying to pull it up. All hell seemed to break loose inside Erin’s mind, yet others would only hear the silence of her screams mixed with erratic breaths. <@236356564125089792> <@264959101384130560>
Lillian’s expression had became one of worry, eyebrows furrowed as her hands floated just above Erin. What did she do? She could barely handle her own mental issues, let alone one of the girls’. Emerald eyes fell on her riduur as he entered, loosely gesturing to the youngest foundling.
“I… I karked up. I said something I wasn’t supposed to. I can’t get her to calm.” Lillian’s jaw flexed at the confession, aggravation at herself flashing in her eyes. She was supposed to be their damn mother, why was she so bad at these things? The Mandalorian forced herself to take a deep breath to calm herself.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you, Wolsha, I’m sorry.”