Excuses, excuses, always the Northhaveners made excuses for Roana's behavior. The bard wanted to snap back, to point to those among Loren's countrymen who did find ways to learn, and adapt, and not try to kill everyone and everything that stood in their way. Instead he ground his teeth together, grinding the words to dust and swallowing them like a bitter pill. He knew it was the blight within him egging him towards frustration and insults. He couldn't blame it all on the blight, but the darkness certainly pushed him towards saying things aloud that had no business being said. Not without a great deal of thought and very careful wording - neither of which the blight encouraged, even in its diminishing state.
Astra was not only a safe topic of conversation, but he had expected some great tale of derring-do to take his mind off things. Auni had been found in the depths of Long Night with a demon inside her that killed Isla on its way out. Jyoti had been rescued from a storm among the stars, falling from the sky as Amalia rose to slow the little calf's descent. Isuma's egg had been a gift from an ice fairy that had led them all an emotionally-exhausting dance. Companions often came with such stories attached, so to hear that Astra had arrived peacefully and simply followed Loren home was something of a surprise. "Perhaps she thought your hearts were aligned," he mused thoughtfully as he patted her head and then went back to work with the moss. His cold fingers barely felt the stuff, but the trembling was improving a little more, he thought hopefully. "Or that you needed her. Gods know that Isuma has used that connection between us to save me from myself more than once." And he wasn't too proud to admit it, even with the blight still darkening his life.
Astra was not only a safe topic of conversation, but he had expected some great tale of derring-do to take his mind off things. Auni had been found in the depths of Long Night with a demon inside her that killed Isla on its way out. Jyoti had been rescued from a storm among the stars, falling from the sky as Amalia rose to slow the little calf's descent. Isuma's egg had been a gift from an ice fairy that had led them all an emotionally-exhausting dance. Companions often came with such stories attached, so to hear that Astra had arrived peacefully and simply followed Loren home was something of a surprise. "Perhaps she thought your hearts were aligned," he mused thoughtfully as he patted her head and then went back to work with the moss. His cold fingers barely felt the stuff, but the trembling was improving a little more, he thought hopefully. "Or that you needed her. Gods know that Isuma has used that connection between us to save me from myself more than once." And he wasn't too proud to admit it, even with the blight still darkening his life.
