Carnival Games

“Jan, no,” she said as she reached out and closed her hand over his thumb and the coin pause atop it for another flip. Keeping it there she continued, voice slow and serious for all its soprano pitch. “You will not - no one will - use River as bait or take her along on this grim errand.”

“It. Will.. Not. Happen,” she stressed and let go of his hand. “If you have doubts in my ability to see this through to the end, if you’re worried I am a liability or impediment then by all means I’ll happily stand aside and let someone else drink from this cup,” she said, paraphrasing the Lord on the Cross. “I’ll not let any vanity or weakness in me expose you or anyone else to harm that can be avoided.”

“But I will not permit anyone, even those adults who should be forbidding it in my place, to bring River along.”