Running out of air

He says he will stay, and within the three words she sees an implicit promise, an oath that she will hold him to. Oh, he has been sick, he had been scared, he has been hurt- but who isn't, these days? Ronin still makes his way as King, Kiada still fights, Melita still dances, Phoebe still works. It is not that she lacks sympathy for him - she feels it in spades, aches and wishes it could be her, that she could take their burdens upon herself and free them from this plight - but she wants more, expects more. Needs more, for who is she to model herself upon if not the ones she loves? Slowly, silently, Amalia nods, slipping into the seat across from him and pulling at the strings of the starwhale apron, the first gift given to her by Deimos, as much a suit of armor as anything else she has. What has she been doing? So much, and yet so little. "The cloisters, but you were there." She'd conceded to Kiada, seeing the need for triumph in her eyes, an aching place where purpose once was that needed to be filled. And after? "We killed the plants in the Spire. It did nothing, but the tower is crumbling now." It will need to be brought down, before it topples and takes them with it. Another task on an ever growing list. "I heard from Vi. The Ascended caused the Blight, exploring at the Voice's behest. It... It turns living things mad. Like the spire demon." She glances sidelong at him, remembering how he smashed the kettle, the fire of his rage. "We are going to speak to Delah and Adruinna about keeping the Ascended from the woods. I don't think they knew, but they do now." Jigano is close to Sam, and now she watches him carefully, wondering how he will reply. She knows about the bookmaker's ventures into the woods, that he had been the catalyst to this destruction. It makes her shudder with rage. "And you? Have you learned anything?" a m a l i a You were young and you'd stare With a reverence unimpaired Searching in your dark eyes to find the stars already there