Tal bit down on the lip between his teeth almost hard enough to draw blood, grounding himself with the pain. Then he shifted, gently disengaging his should from Alys's head. "Sorry, lemme just--" He let go of his cup with one hand in order to slip it behind his friend's shoulders, pulling her close against his side, a little ashamed that he needed the physical reassurance that she was there and whole and physically unhurt, but not so much that he let it keep him from the comfort the extra contact could give.
And then he shut up and listened, as much to what she didn't say as to what she did. It was his turn to swallow hard, teacup trembling slightly in his other hand as the word death dropped into the conversation, a rock through thin ice. "Yeah," he whispered. "You an' Boreal. Sascha, too. Caught in th'roots an' vines under th'water. Drownin' or drowned. An' I couldn't save you. I was caught, same as you, an' I couldn't stop it. It was like watchin' that poor Attuned woman die in th'Oerwoud, but it was you, and I--" He bit down on the tip of his own tongue as the flood gates opened and then, just as abruptly, closed again. Instead his arm tightened around her shoulder and he took a convulsive swallow of his own tea, heedless of the heat or pain that followed, so long as it distracted him from the memory.
And then he shut up and listened, as much to what she didn't say as to what she did. It was his turn to swallow hard, teacup trembling slightly in his other hand as the word death dropped into the conversation, a rock through thin ice. "Yeah," he whispered. "You an' Boreal. Sascha, too. Caught in th'roots an' vines under th'water. Drownin' or drowned. An' I couldn't save you. I was caught, same as you, an' I couldn't stop it. It was like watchin' that poor Attuned woman die in th'Oerwoud, but it was you, and I--" He bit down on the tip of his own tongue as the flood gates opened and then, just as abruptly, closed again. Instead his arm tightened around her shoulder and he took a convulsive swallow of his own tea, heedless of the heat or pain that followed, so long as it distracted him from the memory.
