"We're back," Killan's voice rang through the hall.
"Oh, there they are. Liam, we should probably tell Morgan what your doing here, or she'll get suspicious," Liadan proposed.
"Hey, Liadan, where's Bran?" Cal queried, just realizing that he wasn't around.
"Hmm? Oh, he's upstairs resting," Liadan replied offhanded. Then she froze and looked at him peculiarly.
"What?" He finally asked, when she didn't say anything.
"You noticed," Liadan said quietly.
"Noticed what?" Morgan asked, entering.
"Noticed another human being's absence," Liadan replied.
"Is this a big thing for him or something?" Morgan asked, confused.
"He has never mentioned Bran before, ever," Liadan continued.
"That is really sad," Bree admonished.
Robbie nodded, "Yeah, that is kind of sad."
Bree patted him on the head, "Good boy. You should always agree with me. Then we wouldn't fight."
"You could agree with me," Robbie muttered.
"Hey! I told you two to stop trying to make this about you," Cal rebuked.
"See, ever since the incident with Giomanch, Sgath hasn't been able to deal with what happened," Liadan explained. "We had been fighting just before he started the assignment here about the Goddess knows what. Then he took up with Morgan, used it to make me angry, and I used Giomanch to get back at him. He took a lot of his anger out on Bran."
The listeners eyes turned angrily toward Cal as he tried to protest, so Liadan amended, "He didn't do anything to him. Just the opposite. He took no notice of him as if he didn't exist. It didn't really help that he had his brother's exact eyes."
"And so when Cal learned that Giomanch had fallen for Morgan the moment he saw her, despite his better judgment of course – " Liam broke off.
"It became a game of revenge," Bree sighed.
"And I was the pawn," Morgan finished.
"Wouldn't I know all this, though?" Cal shook his head. "I am in love with Morgan."
"No, you aren't," Morgan said quietly. "When you get jealous, it's the kind people have over toys. You give token declarations of love. You may think that you're in love, but it's just denial."
Cal looked to Killan, "Is that the baby or Morgan?"
"Baby," Killan replied after scanning the aura. "It obviously has given up hope on it's daddy and mommy being together."
"Wow, it's dealing with parental separation before it's even born? I haven't even gotten over my parents and I've had years," Bree said, slightly awed.