I will pay the bill, you taste the wine

ISLA

"See? Whenever you feel overwhelmed, just come for a chat and a walk with me and you'll head home with fresh gratitude for what you have and what it might have been," Isla says with a laugh and another sip of her coffee, the Remedy moving easily around the sometimes wending path they're forced to take to avoid jostling the ticking timebombs in the stroller. She's smiling adoringly down into said stroller when Remi speaks again, his tone enough to draw her attention away from the twins even without taking the content into account.

"That is not almost all you are good for now," she objects. "I'll not have you slander my best friend like that. And besides which, there was a time when you were a demigod under Ludo when you'd have begged to be able to protect instead of kill." Haughtily, she gives him a nudge with her elbow, but the affection in her expression is no less warm for it. "I get it, though. But there are plenty of people who still need to call you to be protected. Flora might have just wanted more - and that's okay, even if it doesn't look like the path you might have paved for her."

Bouncing her eyebrows back at Remi as she succeeds in drawing a chuckle from him, Isla tips him a knowing wink. "It isn't surprising that Flora left upset when you consider the odds. Still, I'm sure Ronin will be able to fix things as quickly as he broke them." Gods be willing, anyway.

apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood