Sleep, and I Shall Soothe You

Emmett

When Phoebe said I wish you would just listen to me, Emmett nearly screamed for the irony he felt there was in that sentence. Had either of them ever actually listened to the other? He rarely felt understood in their arguments, and here they were again.

He let Phoebe speak, then stood silently for a while, staring off out of the kitchen window and ignoring the pie placed by him. He could hear her tears, but he could not regret his words. Of course he didn't want to make her upset, but...he had honestly toned down his opinions of those accepting of this new leader for her. There was not a compromise here. You either resisted or you were as bad as the monster who took over.

After a long moment he sighed and turned, looked over to her. He wanted desperately to point out to her that being from the same place as Zariah put her in a fantastic position to help a resistance movement, but he knew she wouldn't like the suggestion. He wanted to put it behind them and forget it too, hug her and pretend it didn't matter, like a spill or a misunderstanding. But he couldn't, so he stood there quietly and still.

Eventually, he spoke. "...I don' regret what I said. But. I am sorry it hurt ya. That isn'...I'm not tryina do that. But I gotta stand up for what I believe in. I can' just drop alla that because you don' agree with me. This is...how I gotta do this. I can' just bow down." He shook his head. "Look. If y'need me, don' hesitate to come to the barn and ask. But til then, maybe we should stay outta each others way til this blows over. Cos I think it will. Blow over...one way or another."

All you broken boys and girls,
With your tattered flags unfurled:

Fix yourselves then fix the fisher king.
Won't you fix yourselves to fix the fisher king?