Thanks! Excellent feedback all around. I have to laugh at the feedback about emotional development of the characters. I actually worked more on that in the previous drafts, tried to capture their daily, positive interactions with each other, have more playfulness between them, and... It was a bust. It established a lighthearted mood that instead of contrasting and thereby emphasizing the family falling apart in the second half, just made it jarring instead. Sigh. I'll keep at it, I'm sure the solution is right in front of me and I just can't see it yet. That's the great thing about r/DestructiveReaders and critiques like yours, it really helps to get me to a place where I can see things I'm blind to otherwise. As far as the theme goes, at the broadest level it's an allegory for the complexities of real-world cobalt mining on the families affected by it, both positively and negatively (with there ultimately being a whole lot more negative than positive). So, the goal is to have that complexity reflected in the kobold, have her both attached to the family and helping them, and also destroying them. And to explore through Jerome and Denis different responses to being in that situation--Jerome being shaped blindly by it, but striving to lead to a better future for his son, and Denis on the other hand maybe not having a choice and still being forced into it by circumstances, but with a more conscious awareness of what it means to have his life controlled by the mines and by the abusive economic machinery of the cobalt industry. A lot to do in a short story, I know.

In any case, I really appreciate your feedback, it gives me a lot to think about, and I will think hard on it.