Samuel forced a smile and cut in quickly. “Well, anyway, Nathan was just asking about the ark animals,” he said, steering the conversation somewhere harmless.

The sisters followed his lead politely enough, but the shift felt obvious. Artificial.

The subject disappeared, yet nothing had actually been resolved.

Later, Sasha would still be thinking about it—but now without the benefit of calm spiritual perspective in that moment.

Avoiding a subject was not the same as handling it.