Mrs. Miller looked at Sienna, eyes sharper than usual. "Sienna, I raised you to be better than that. You can't put everyone on a scale of money and weigh them. Consider this, you are wife of the fox lord. You are the lady of the fox tribe. If you refuse to give out even one glass of water, some of them might come to resent you and complain to the beast king or tarnish your name online. You are a leader, so act like one. If they come, we endure. That is all."
Sometimes---in moments like these. Sienna was almost tempted to grab her mother's neck and snap it.
She scoffed, exasperated. "Endure. That's your answer for everything."
"Because endurance is survival." Her mother replied. "Rejecting them today does not mean they won't come to your door tomorrow, so fix it today. You don't have to give much. Don't buy them a house, rent them one and tell them you are only covering three months of rent. After that, they need to start paying for it themselves.
