Lift off your arms and I'll get the coffee
She stands immediately, head shaking to cut him off - though she doesn't know where to go now that she's on her feet. Isn't sure he wants her comfort when she's the one pulling back. And even if nothing changes - and that's her ultimate hope, to do all the same things with less hours in the office so to speak - she knows it won't feel that way. She knows there's no way to reassure him of that with words alone. Certainly not to him, not when he values proof more than words that have been broken too many times before. But that doesn't help in taking away the hurt in the here and now.
"I've never once regretted being Warden. With or without you," she declares as firmly as her voice can manage, expression firm and certain whether he meets her eyes or not. "I'm not - not leaving, or abandoning you. I'm still right here. I'll still be doing...well, everything I hope. Just with more time at home." Sighing, she drops her eyes and chews the inside of her cheek. "It doesn't feel right to me, to benefit from the power and title while having so much less contact with our people. And maybe that will change, maybe it won't. But I don't want it to be a bigger change than spending more time at home." It's not that her heart isn't in it, or that she's tired of leading. It's that her heart yearns to spend more time with her family than her people in these formative years for her children.
"I've never once regretted being Warden. With or without you," she declares as firmly as her voice can manage, expression firm and certain whether he meets her eyes or not. "I'm not - not leaving, or abandoning you. I'm still right here. I'll still be doing...well, everything I hope. Just with more time at home." Sighing, she drops her eyes and chews the inside of her cheek. "It doesn't feel right to me, to benefit from the power and title while having so much less contact with our people. And maybe that will change, maybe it won't. But I don't want it to be a bigger change than spending more time at home." It's not that her heart isn't in it, or that she's tired of leading. It's that her heart yearns to spend more time with her family than her people in these formative years for her children.
There's sleep in your eyes, I'll pull the curtains back gently
Evie
