23  Now, we prepare to move to a new home.  The Lords have blessed me, and I have become even more prosperous, but this bitterness between us weighs heavily on me, and it can not go on.  It is spreading to our children.  They are becoming cruel and despisable to each-other, and this I will not endure.
    24  Some have said I should go to The Speakers, that because she denies me my right, I should put her out.  But I could not do that. It would mean she would be separated from her children and that I could not endure.  Lord, what am I to do?
    25  "Firstly," said The Voice, "you must make her come and speak with me.  In your contract, did she agree that you are head of the family, lord of that  house?"
   26  "When we were mated, Lord," Gray Toad told him, "that she did agree to."
    27  "And did she agree to fulfill your needs, and you agreed to fulfill hers?"
    28  "It was so written, Lord."
    29  "Then as head of your household, order her to come to me.  If she will not obey your authority that much, then you will have no choice but to put  her out.  But if she obeys you, and comes to me, then perhaps I can reach her heart, and find out what troubles her."
    30  "What you request, Lord," said Gray Toad, "that I will do."
    31  "Have her come to my room," instructed the Voice.  "I wish our words to be in private.  Things may be said that are not for others to hear."
    32  Gray Toad nodded.  "Within the hour, Lord," he agreed, "she will be there."
    33  The Voice went to his room, pulled out his sleeping cushions, laid out his blankets and prepared for sleep.  He had barely finished changing when Yellow Blossom rapped on his door.  He opened it and invited her in, motioning her to some cushions and he sat down opposite her.
    34  The woman merely stared at the wall so The Voice was the first to speak. "Woman," he asked, "why do you deny your mate comfort?  Why do you refuse to do with him what is considered natural and necessary by The Lords?"
    35  "Why should I?" snapped Yellow Blossom. "He has HER now, he does not need me.  For twelve seasons I gave him all that I had to give. I was always faithful to him.  I never so much as thought of another man.  He was all I ever desired.
    36  Then, he betrayed me.  He brought her into my house, saying it would only be temporary until we found another place for her. And I treated her like a sister, and loved her, and she stole my man."
    37  "Did you not," asked the Voice, "give your consent?"
    38  "What difference would it make?" argued  Yellow Blossom.  "If I had refused them, he would have simply taken her behind my back. I consented because I did not want to make trouble."
    39  "But now," continued the Voice, "you have made even more trouble.  Your mate desires you, but you refuse him what is right.  You know by the law, he can put you out, and keep your children, unless you can prove he has abused  you, and I do not think you can.
    40  If you had objected, refused the mating, you would have had a just complaint, but you gave your consent."
    41  "My mother gave her consent, too," cried Yellow Blossom, "and she spent the rest of her life alone.  But I have told you why I gave my consent."
    42  A sudden glimmer of understanding came into The Voice's mind.  "Your father took a second mate," he asked, "and did not do honor by your mother?"
    43  "He may as well have put her out," Yellow Blossom snapped.  "We were strangers in our own house.  The other woman took my mother's place, and her children took our place.  My mother begged my father, but he ignored her. When she was sick he ignored her, and did not even care when she died."
    44  "So now," answered the Voice, "you punish your mate for the things your father did.  You think he is rejecting you, as your father rejected your mother.
    45  I tell you woman, he does not. He has told me he is on fire for you as he has always been.  That he has longed for you many nights, but you have refused him.  You have not given him an opportunity to prove that he still loves you as much as he always did."
    46  "How can he love me?" screeched Yellow Blossom, "When he has her?  She is  young, pretty.  I am plain and slow."
    47  "Did you doubt his love before?" asked The Voice. "Did you question it?   When he came to you freely did you doubt what was in his heart?  You are punishing him for the crimes of your father, and he is not your father.

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