It wouldn't have been received well even under the best of circumstances. Mirin knew this. It still needed to be said, and she was convinced of her right to speak it. She'd practically raised Matinus while her father lost himself in the temple, pining after her mother. Mirin didn't believe he could have fallen so deeply in love with Sanria, not to the point that he wasn't willing to do the right thing... but to her shock, her father wasn't letting go. She begged her dad to put Sanria and Colin in a room together, just to watch them, but he refused. "No Mirin. I don't need to put them together. I'm not forcing Sanria to be with me. She's here because she wants to be, and I want her."
The words took her by surprise. She had grown accustomed to her father, Gilean, being a bit on the weak side. He sacrificed his own happiness and family for everyone else. But he wasn't budging. 'I think you're a good person to everyone else,' she telepathed. 'You help women with their babies, help heal those in need... I think that's what you're the best at doing. I think... not that it matters... that you and Sanria are wrong, Dad. Once, maybe... but not now.'
There was nothing more to say that wasn't met with severe resistance. Her dad thought she was saying the words out of resentment for his absence in her life. He kept apologizing, not that it wasn't nice to hear it, but her point was lost. She returned finally to the cavern and told Colin of her discussion - but even he seemed cowed by the act.
Orn had been right. This was something they would have to sort out on their own. No matter how messed up she thought it was, or how wrong. She picked up both Reggie and Regina and smiled down at them, combing their minds to discover they were both ravenously hungry. She shook her head and set to work tending her family.
