you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars
Flora listens quietly, not interrupting or teasing or deflecting the way she might have once done. There’s nothing performative about her now—just a young queen who knows all too well the weight of duty when it wraps around your chest like armour too tight to breathe in. She exhales softly, nudging her shoulder against Soh’s and leaning into her with quiet solidarity. "If our positions were flipped," she murmurs, "you’d be telling me that I don’t have to go back to a place just to prove something."
Her gaze trails along the shoreline, watching the sun glint off shallow waves and driftwood. "Stormbreak was your home for a little while," she says carefully, "but now? It sounds like it’s nothing but grief and ghosts and guilt. And gods, Soh, being surrounded by that all the time? That’s not a legacy. That’s a punishment."
She turns toward her friend, expression softer than usual, but no less direct. "Besides, you can’t walk through that place without tripping over a dragoon or five just itching to polish the city back to what it used to be. There’s already people to guard it and fix it." She stops walking, tugging Soh a half-step closer, arms wrapping around her in a tight hug that smells of sea salt and wind and something floral and warm. "So tell me if I’m crazy," Flora says into her friend’s shoulder, "but what if you just…didn’t go back? What if you stayed? With me. With everyone who loves you. What if you stopped holding up a city that doesn’t even know how to hold you back?"
She pulls back just enough to meet Sohalia’s eyes. "What if you let yourself rest for once? It's what you'd tell me to do."
The words are still lingering between them when Soh brings up the bar again, and Flora nods, expression tightening with something more bitter beneath the tenderness. "Yeah..." she says. "It absolutely doesn’t feel like my choice. But with the whole Kai–Caly–Jack triangle-from-hell, I figured...at least this way it is. Even if I fucking hate it. At least I can say I let it go on my own terms. That feels better than waiting around for them to tell me it’s not mine anymore."
Her gaze trails along the shoreline, watching the sun glint off shallow waves and driftwood. "Stormbreak was your home for a little while," she says carefully, "but now? It sounds like it’s nothing but grief and ghosts and guilt. And gods, Soh, being surrounded by that all the time? That’s not a legacy. That’s a punishment."
She turns toward her friend, expression softer than usual, but no less direct. "Besides, you can’t walk through that place without tripping over a dragoon or five just itching to polish the city back to what it used to be. There’s already people to guard it and fix it." She stops walking, tugging Soh a half-step closer, arms wrapping around her in a tight hug that smells of sea salt and wind and something floral and warm. "So tell me if I’m crazy," Flora says into her friend’s shoulder, "but what if you just…didn’t go back? What if you stayed? With me. With everyone who loves you. What if you stopped holding up a city that doesn’t even know how to hold you back?"
She pulls back just enough to meet Sohalia’s eyes. "What if you let yourself rest for once? It's what you'd tell me to do."
The words are still lingering between them when Soh brings up the bar again, and Flora nods, expression tightening with something more bitter beneath the tenderness. "Yeah..." she says. "It absolutely doesn’t feel like my choice. But with the whole Kai–Caly–Jack triangle-from-hell, I figured...at least this way it is. Even if I fucking hate it. At least I can say I let it go on my own terms. That feels better than waiting around for them to tell me it’s not mine anymore."
you're either falling in love or you're falling apart
