Try as she might, Ariadne couldn't imagine a situation where a threat to her father would ever make her mother stand down. If anything, knowing Feofan was in danger would propel Rotspine to do the impossible.

It was strange to hold her mother up like that. Some kind of bizarre sort of mirror. They'd never gotten along, while Rotspine was alive. They'd fought like cats, in fact. And if it hadn't been for one of their many fights, there was reason to supposed that Ariadne wouldn't be alive now.

Impossible to live with. And yet some kind of ideal.

Kind of funny. Like the multiverse had a sense of humor.

"These friends of yours sound interesting," she said. "I'd love to hear more about them."