Ephrim treads water uncomfortably, eyes narrowed at Haein. Is he above thinking about the next part of this in terms of petty revenge? Absolutely. He's been wronged more cruelly and personally before, by people far more important, whose opinions actually mattered to him. Is this stopping him from thinking of three different forms of vengeance? Oh, hell no.

He floats for a moment, still a little dumbstruck by how sudden the whole exchange had been. "Child," he says finally, making no movement to splash his way back to shore, "I am forced to believe that your parents have failed you thrice: once in your manners, once in keeping your feet under you no better than the drunkard you are, and once in birthing spawn of such weakness that it cannot think of a better way of facing the truth than to lash out at its source." Ephrim does have quite an opinion of himself for someone who lashed out at a boy ten years younger than he in a moment of weakness, but hey, sometimes this is how one copes.