Nesah jumped a little at the sudden barking, but quickly recovered. She sat down and observed her brother as he worked like a common servant, happily. What on earth had happened to him? But Nesah knew that she needed to pick her battles. There were so many wrong choices that Uriel was making, but with such determination, that she knew that if she would fight him on all of them, she would lose altogether. If slaving like a labourer made Uriel happy, well... that was always something that could be fixed later on. He could still hire servants and go back to university and get himself a real job once he sobered up. But boy, how it infuriated her to see how little her brother appreciated the privilege she was working so hard for. And when Uriel said he might hire someone, Nesah resolved to work on that immediately after leaving and to spam her brother with suggestions.

"I would love to try your bread," she said as if delighted by the idea of her brother baking. She tried not to cringe at the humming and even more so when Uriel started speaking about love and the baby. She hated irrational people, and 'love', if that was what it was, had clearly interfered with Uriel's capacity for sound judgement.

She sat back in her chair. "Love is fleeting," she commented in a businesslike voice. "But family remains. Blood is thicker than water.". And now she pleaded: "Uriel, whatever else you do, don't become a catholic. You'll break mother's heart."