[o] [SE] everything that we should be

To kiss in cars and downtown bars
Was all we needed

Maybe Maea was right, but that was something for Soh to ponder some other time. She'd borne the weight of all that had gone wrong for so long that it was almost more uncomfortable to give it up than to hold it close, and she wasn't quite ready to confront that little part of her that would rather play the victim. Instead, she hummed a note that she hoped was acceptance enough, and focused for a moment on her stitches, which had gotten a little crooked as her attention had slipped elsewhere. Correcting the path of her sewing took a moment, and by the time she'd gotten back on track, it was easier to talk about what she might want in the future than what she wished she'd done differently in the past.

While she hadn't asked for advice, she found herself hanging onto Maea's every word. Wasn't this just what she'd been hoping she would have time to accomplish moving forward? To find herself, to love herself, before she became entangled with anyone else? So she nodded, smiling shyly over at Maea. "Thank you," she said simply. "I think the hardest part is that I don't wish to keep feeling so alone. Before... I always had Tarak, you know? Now, sometimes it just feels..." She trailed off, at a loss for words. But if anyone could understand, surely it would be someone who had also lost their companion, and Soh shook off the melancholy that threatened to settle like a shawl over her shoulders. "But... friendship. I could do that."

You drew stars around my scars
But now I'm bleedin'

Sohalia