"Probably," she agrees. "He raised me to be tough, but he never wanted to hurt me." Isabelle smiles, looking down at the water as it ripples away from them. This water doesn't bubble and boil, burning her skin like the pool at the Adamant Citadel did. It doesn't mark her of her impurities and almost kill her. She wishes she could do that over, wishes that she never took the yin-fen from Aldertree, recognizing now what he'd been trying to do.

If she ever sees him again, she might punch him in the face. And that's just if she manages to stop herself from flat out killing him.

"It's a mess right now," she sighs, watching the stick float across the water. "I was in the woods all day."