one for sorrow

ELENA

we had discovered
an accursed country.

Had she met Korbin before he started drinking, she might have been able to talk to him. To convince him to maybe take it easy on himself. But he was hurting and self-destructive and nothing she could say in that moment would change that. She'd seen people fall like this -- had fallen herself -- too many times to not realize how much she would hurt herself in the process of trying to help him. It wasn't a matter of not knowing him well enough so much as knowing herself well enough. Of knowing that Korbin had fallen once and she was not someone who could catch him when he eventually fell again.

"Alright." She straightened up, turning her head to look at him properly. "I will give you one real piece of advice--", though she could almost guarantee he wouldn't remember it, or act on it if he did, "Find a friend, Korbin Hale. Don't be alone. I would have let the damned ursur eat me had I been alone." Only the fact that she hadn't been alone when the ursur grabbed her had saved her life. She picked up her mug and began to walk away, the old ache in her scarred leg making her limp more pronounced. "Find someone who will drag you to safety when all this is over."

And with that she went back to her table near the fire, hoping to drink down some of the pain that her encounter with the mourning young man had brought to the surface.

~fin~

we had found
the home of the blizzard