ELRETH
Her mother's face went pale, which seemed a very strong reaction to Elreth. Elia's mouth opened and closed like a fish while Elreth waited for her to answer.
"Mom?" she said finally.
Her mother's throat bobbed and she put a hand to her chest. "How… how did this come up?" she croaked.
"Very early this morning—after what was already a really hard night—Aaryn and I were woken up by two people walking into the cave. They didn't realize we were going to be there obviously. But the male recognized Aaryn. Because he was disformed. And the female… the female was a human he'd just brought back from the human world."
Her mother's eyes grew even wider and she covered her mouth. Elreth couldn't tell if she was smiling or not. Then she dropped her hands and whispered, "Is she safe? I mean, did she make it through okay?"
"Yes! Mom! You're missing the point!"
"No, I'm not, El. But I needed to know. That's good… that's good."
