Noah isn't looking at her, his gaze focused somewhere distant that Lyra can't see. She can practically feel the weight of his grief pressing down on him. It rolls off him in waves, even without the Attuned bond. Lyra swallows hard as she watches him try to wrangle it back into something manageable, wishing that there is something she can do other than just stand and wait. But sometimes that's all one can do after a great loss; sometimes it's enough to simply be present, to sit with someone in their grief and give them the safety to feel.
So she says nothing. There's no pity in her eyes, just a calm understanding. She's seen enough loss that it doesn't take much imagination for her to comprehend the depth of emotion he must be feeling. Normally it's the loss of one's parents, but the loss of one's wife, while different, is no less traumatic.
Finally, he looks back at her, glacier eyes still stormy. She wants to argue, to rage against the burden he's packed firmly onto his shoulders, because it wasn't his fault, and anything else that happens out there won't be his fault, but she knows now that he won't hear her. "I see," she says, but it tastes like ash in her mouth. She pauses. "Is there anything I can do to help?" With carrying his burden, with readying for the hunt... who's to say?
So she says nothing. There's no pity in her eyes, just a calm understanding. She's seen enough loss that it doesn't take much imagination for her to comprehend the depth of emotion he must be feeling. Normally it's the loss of one's parents, but the loss of one's wife, while different, is no less traumatic.
Finally, he looks back at her, glacier eyes still stormy. She wants to argue, to rage against the burden he's packed firmly onto his shoulders, because it wasn't his fault, and anything else that happens out there won't be his fault, but she knows now that he won't hear her. "I see," she says, but it tastes like ash in her mouth. She pauses. "Is there anything I can do to help?" With carrying his burden, with readying for the hunt... who's to say?
lyra
Who could ever leave me darling... but who could stay?
