Willow is practically seething, grip white-knuckoes on her bond weapon. Miriam looks from her daughter to the wielders and speaks softly, as it seems each new detail is agitating Willow further, and she already looks ready to tear half the village apart to protect her mother.
"The ceremony is tomorrow, roughly twenty-four hours from now..."
Willow growls. "I won't let them take you! Not while I still draw breath! She clearly is not thinking straight, but sparks of electricity are arcing up her arm, so reasoning with her might not be so effective.
Lloyd looks to the elder Fletcher. "How you feel about being Warden?" Lloyd asks with some amount of tenderness. They needed to know the woman's beliefs in order to figure out how to proceed.
Willow continues to keep her anger in check, poorly. Miriam answers instead. "Arthur went missing while out hunting, he wasn't named warden."
It is an unfortunately not uncommon scenerio of someone going missing when outside of town hunting or foraging, especially in less defended, smaller settlements, like Petram.
"As far as I am aware, we've never been a year without a warden, so I really can't say. Miriam shrugs apologetically. "But I am honored to be able to perform this duty and protect my daughter's home."
Willow snaps at that, wheeling about. "It's no home of mine if yer not here! Not if the townsfolk'll just burn you at a stake to please some 'pyre witch' rather'n rely on the guild!" again, electric sparks race up along Willow's sword, past her hand where she grips her bond with white knuckles, and up her arm to her shoulder.
It seems Willow is not inclined to allow the ceremony to proceed and may go to extreme lengths to prevent it. While she seemed more relaxed natured on the trip here, finding her mother involved seems to have pushed her to a desperate state of mind where she is not thinking clearly and seeing more than a little red. Miriam, on the other hand, remains calm with that mother's patience while her daughter has a 'tantrum'. She seems quite genuine in her acceptance of the responsibility she has found herself with.
Moira was a little alarmed. "Willow, maybe we can take a walk. I apologize for what I said earlier about your father but maybe we should take a moment here." Moira says tentatively.
Are we at the point where we should be rolling Calm?
Willow stops pacing and sits, taking deep breaths and visibly bringing herself under control after Moira talks her down. "You're right....acting rashly isn't going to help anything....but... we need to do something. I can't just let this happen."
Moira pulls Willow aside to talk privately. "If needed, would you be opposed to... well, kidnap your mom? We can get her through a portal and far away from here." Moira suggests... "Only if we can't convince her otherwise." she adds quickly. "Also, you don't happen to have that power that breaks inanimate things easily, do you? I'm thinking destroying those pyres is not such a bad idea. Though it might just be futile if they can just designate a different 'sacrifice' place." Moira says adding derisive air quotes.
When Moira takes Willow asside, Erica uses this as an opportunity to talk more with the mother as Lloyd asked. "Is this... Are you sure this is what you really want? You can be honest with us. We want to help not just you, but, your town as well. Find a way to put an end to this all. If you put your trust in us, we'll do what we can to make sure nobody ever has to be the Warden again. Yourself included."
Sashura was trying to figure out what was going on.
"Sacrificing yourself so the rest of the village could get away from danger is a cruel bargain, but might be the best deal you can get. It is a heroic sacrifice if you can't get away and there is no other option.
But why stay close to the danger if you don't have to, and do this year after year after year? What is there to gain?
And there are other options." she thought to herself as she looked to the other Wielders.
"Something else is going on around here. No idea what."