run me like a river

Tal's arms were warm and comforting, and for the moment, Soh was content to stay wrapped up in them, where it didn't feel like the world was quite so harsh and cruel. "I met Anju, once," she recalled. "At the Collegium. We made taffy." It was such a bizarre detail to remember at a moment like this, but it was nice to have something else to talk about, if only for a moment. "I think Mateo was going to pass on what I was able to tell him. He said he had connections with the Dragoons, too. But - if it could help - I could talk to Anju." She sounded much braver than she felt at the prospect, and her body betrayed her by trembling as she thought of relating her story to someone else. How many times would she have to relive it before she could put it behind her for good?

It certainly didn't feel like she'd done well. Happenstance had put Mateo at the scene of the crime, and Soh had been lucky that he had been carrying whatever talisman or amulet he'd used to heal the man. If Mateo hadn't been there... well, let's just say that Soh hadn't gone looking for help. She'd been too much in shock to think that far. "Thanks, Tal," she whispered, burying her face in his neck (gently, so as not to prod at her injured eye). It still seemed too much to ask, that he was still her friend even after all of this, but if there was one thing Soh was now sure of, it was that Tal would be there for her through anything life might throw at her.

-FIN-