Cold Water on a Hot Day

ELRETH

She'd known challenging Gar would cement his resolve. She'd known he walked in here truly uncertain of himself for the first time in longer than she could figure out, and with Gar the way to make him determined to succeed was to tell him he couldn't do something.

But she hadn't imagined that it would bolster his resolve to bring down the lines of authority with him.

When he turned to look at the Elders and essentially accused them of being aware of the disformed's activities—but ignoring them—Elreth's heart dropped. She shook her head, but didn't drop her face into her hand like she wanted to.

"Gar, we are all learning that none of us knows as much about anything as we think we do. So why don't you share with us what you've been doing? What it is you think we already know, and then we can find out where we truly are ignorant?"