@Arcanist, that could work. Perhaps Serana believes that Bellantha shouldn't have to be paying for the kind of comfort/support Ria provides, and is low key jealous that she'd rather have a "prostitute" (not understanding the nuance of Ria's religious practices) as a confidant than her. And thus thinks Ria is just a fake friend or only treats her kindly for money.<br/><br/>@Ixy well...she<em>had</em>loving parents. I like the idea of them having similar situations, though instead of being able to bond over them, Iona resents her because she's seen as so much more successful at it. Perhaps past attempts at kindness from Serana have been interpreted as mockery or insincere pity, thus making it worse, though at the same time it's also what helped spurred the attraction she feels towards her. I like the conflicted feelings, and Serana's ignorance of them unknowingly stirring and provoking them further.<br/><br/>@Petrus02 I see Serana being very sympathetic towards Claire, both because she's the center of so much scorn among the village and because she kind of sees how she herself might have ended up like her if circumstances were slightly different. Also I think Serana would have made use of her mother's services a lot, between getting quick remedies for her siblings' ailments and occasionally buying contraceptive potions (she has a preference for women mostly because she won't risk sleeping with a guy unless she has measures in place to assure she can't get pregnant, and so hasn't gotten the chance to sleep with many boys in general). She sees Claire not as a nuisance, but someone who probably just needs a friend, and thus tries to be supportive of her.