The iron had always been in her, but the ice was unfamiliar to him. Or perhaps he had simply blinded himself to it when he had placed her upon that pedestal she had never asked to be put on. He left his hand where it was, palm up and open on the bedside as he watched her turning away and inwards, struggling with an ennui he recognized but had no easy answers to overcoming.
"Yes," he agreed simply. "They probably are the happiest. I think that they can be that way because others do the trying for them... but maybe you're right. Maybe we're wrong to try and make things better, to want to help, or protect, or hold a candle up against a gale..." He looked to Isuma, his lips quirking wryly into a painful smile. "And I know I'm one of the arrogant ones. Safrin was... quite adamant on that point. Not a hero, nor a villain just... nothing special, in her eyes." Unlike Amalia, he didn't need to say, the star-eyed's chosen ever held dear to the goddess's heart.
"Do you think you could be happy, if you stopped trying?" he asked quietly instead, wondering what her answer would be now that she was in the Infirmary and not out working in the bakery or walking through the fields with Deimos. "Even if it's wrong, even if it makes us arrogant... could you let it all go?"
"Yes," he agreed simply. "They probably are the happiest. I think that they can be that way because others do the trying for them... but maybe you're right. Maybe we're wrong to try and make things better, to want to help, or protect, or hold a candle up against a gale..." He looked to Isuma, his lips quirking wryly into a painful smile. "And I know I'm one of the arrogant ones. Safrin was... quite adamant on that point. Not a hero, nor a villain just... nothing special, in her eyes." Unlike Amalia, he didn't need to say, the star-eyed's chosen ever held dear to the goddess's heart.
"Do you think you could be happy, if you stopped trying?" he asked quietly instead, wondering what her answer would be now that she was in the Infirmary and not out working in the bakery or walking through the fields with Deimos. "Even if it's wrong, even if it makes us arrogant... could you let it all go?"
