*SPOILER REVIEW OF THE ENDING*
My God having Weila stay with Ijis because she's deluded herself into thinking his birth mother lives on within him is SOOO good. Having the victim also be toxic is the perfect way to wrap a "gets with the rapist" ending.
However, that epilogue has to be my biggest gripe with the story. I admit, I returned to the text after dinner, so I was a bit out of the zone, but it was just a slough to read. I like kids. Seeing Frankie really wasn't important to the story and the entire read felt like it should have taken a few paragraphs.
Also, with how hopeful and triumphant Weila's moment was, where she comes to her feelings about seal mom and how that leads to her accepting Ijis back into her life... especially the bit about resurrecting her fertility, that was such a powerful part.
So, with the epilogue revealing that yes, she's still infertile, it felt like that moment was wasted and replaced with redundancy. I fully expected, with how its been reiterated that Ijis does not care for kids, for Weila to have aborted the offspring. Just my musings, but I feel that it would have been a more impactful moment, to show again the mindset Peripoeds have towards life and death.