With Aria on her way to the Desert City and Ben off searching, Isika had more time to puzzle over the Desert King"s actions. She tried not to obsess over his motivations, which were impossible to know, but the questions looped in her head, especially at the end of the day, when the other work was done.
Why had he done this? What was the purpose behind taking the elders? Was it random and spiteful? Or more nefarious, more poisonous?
Isika"s days were full now, so she could usually keep the questions at bay, but they came in the evening, like pesky insects, annoying and intrusive. There was work to do after the long years of fighting the poison of the Great Waste, poison that grew after Queen Azariyah"s grandchildren had been found. During the years of fighting the Great Waste, other thin
