whatever comes, let it come
what stays, let it stay
Astra responded as she had been this whole time, of course, because this narrator knows how companion speech works with a series of images and emotions. Loren, Jyoti, Amalia, Zuriel, Deimos, a range of people and their companions. The indication was that they were all her herd, in a way, even if they weren't all together at once, and often scattered and broken in a way she disliked.Loren got flashes of all this as well, and it made the tears in his eyes finally fall. Shaking his head, the movement awkward given his current position, he lifted his gaze to Amalia, turning so he could meet her tear reddened eyes with his own. As always when he cried it was entirely silent. "No I....I shouldn't have...said that. Any of that." It came out in a whisper.
Scrubbing his eyes furiously, he hugged his arm to his chest. "It's no one's fault. It's just...shitty." For a moment, his mind was elsewhere, and he lifted his arm to expose the smooth skin of his wrist as despair bubbled up inside. Astra, sensing his distress, bleated unhappily and moved to press herself against him. He hugged her tightly to his side, a little bit of tension easing in his chest.
what goes, let go
LOREN
