"I was, yes." Eilonwy took a deep breath and had another drink of tea. "Inigo was surprised by my statement and asked why I thought Vaeros would have had alternative motives to begin with. It wasn't said in anger, like he was refuting me, he truly had no idea why I would think that. He was confused."

Eilonwy's shoulders shook a bit. Her grip on the cup tightened. "I was equally as confused! I replied that Vaeros had never been that kind of ruler-- Even with my short time being here, I know that! I knew it then! But after I said that it felt like I had buckets of rocks on my shoulders. Everything felt heavy and I suddenly.. I didn't want to.. I knew how disconcerting it felt--" Her eyes burned with angry tears as she clenched her teeth for a moment. The next sentence came out with a mix of frustration and hurt.


"I know I fought back."