Something wild calls me home

Maea

And I hope that you don't suffer
But take the pain

"Yes. She was fighting the Spire Demon, alongside Ronin and... I forget who else." A faraway look crept into her pale eyes, turning them hazy as the mist swirling around them. "Can't say I'm surprised. All battles are traumatic in their own way. The things they awaken in us... Some brag about it, but most people I've met prefer to stay quiet. Either way it's an attempt to protect ourselves from things that shouldn't be let out into the light." Memories, emotions, acts of desperation, the way a mind could be torn apart and reassembled - but never quite the same as before. It never got easier.

Softening into a smile as Theea spoke of her new family, the older woman envied her the connections, if only just a bit. Maea had her friends, and she had Liam; she knew she wasn't alone. Yet all her own blood relatives were gone, and the family she had adopted as well. "You have time," she assured the girl. "That's all you need. Time together - the rest will come on its own. Every family is different, but if I know anything about yours it's that you're already part of it. I think it's less about finding a place and more about filling it with confidence." Something she had always struggled with, until it was too late. Maea desperately hoped Theea wouldn't have to experience that kind of regret.

Hope if everybody runs
You choose to stay