you're welcome for the emotional whiplash

"Maybe," Soh echoed. Truthfully, she had known that thinking about leaving might sting, which was why she'd wanted to be up front about it. In retrospect, though, she wondered if it might have been better to keep quiet until she'd made up her mind one way or another. "I just don't want to be 'Flora's best friend' forever, you know? I'm living in her region, in her house, she offered me a place on her council - it's like, I just want something that's mine." She tightened her grip on Zavien, an unconscious claim that he was hers, even if nothing else was. "Something that I earned on merit, not just because I pulled strings to get there. And even if Flora did offer me a place because I deserved it -" Which was questionable, at best, after everything that Soh had failed at with Stormbreak. "- that's not what it would look like."

After tucking away the blade - she'd have to figure out what to do with it later - she nestled back in Zavien's arms, melting into him in a way that spoke of just how safe she felt with him. That he dismissed Colt so easily was a balm to her wounded soul; she wasn't sure what she'd have done if she'd argued with Zavien over this, too.

But Flora was another matter. "What choice do I have?" she whispered without thinking, then flushed. What was she saying? She loved Flora, loved having a place with her to come home to. But it isn't yours, whispered a voice in the back of her mind. "I just mean - I don't have a home of my own, so -" Flustered, and feeling like a terrible friend, Soh shrugged, the motion dulled somewhat by Zavien's arms around her. "I don't... know where else I would go," she said carefully, because the only other place that she might go now felt presumptuous to say aloud.

Sohalia