K: The Ship that Carried a Kingdom

"You want us to pay people just for existing?" Doris repeated incredulously.

"Isn't that what you argued that the support network was for?" Rafaela countered her step sister.

Doris rolled her eyes, and then shook her head. "There's a difference between giving all people enough to stay alive, and paying your employees to do nothing!"

"You count learning things and creating things as nothing?" Rafaela protested.

Doris made a rude hand gesture in Rafaela's direction. "You know what I mean!"

"You know what I meant too," Rafaela reflected the childish protest right back at her.

Doris took another of the chewy cakes that Lief had provided for this meeting, and took a huge bite. She was using the gesture to give herself time to think, and that meant that Rafaela was actually making progress, despite all of Doris' arguments.

"These are really good," Doris complimented the snacks.