Dying was no longer a new experience for Lena. After the fifth time, when a malfunction with the toaster had done her in, she started to see it almost as a routine.
"... Listen well boy, my status as an elder is not to be questioned so consider this act of suffocation your punishment for your impudence earlier. Don't think of me as cruel, in fact, I was already being lenient to you despite being a member of a branch family. If it were the other elders, you would have been punished far worse without a chance to beg... But that is another matter altogether, you see, based on the meetings we had with the merchants. I am somewhat aware that the goal of those merchant's was to gain access to our clans resources by trying to associate with us. Meaning their aim was not to form ties with me, and especially not you Richard."
