The conversation did not begin as an argument.
That, Willow would later realize, was part of what unsettled her most, because there was no raised voice or sharp turn to warn her that they were stepping onto unstable ground. There was no visible tension that might have allowed her to brace herself before the shift occurred. It began the way the most consequential conflicts always did, quietly, wrapped inside practicality, where intention surfaced before emotion had time to gather its defenses.
They were in the kitchen when it happened.
