LOREN
No, Loren did not want to try. Still, he sighed, and gingerly rested his palm on Phoebe’s since this seemed so important to her. Besides, she was probably right, and he’d never had a problem touching others if it wasn’t a surprise to him. That didn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly awkward to stand like this. As she continued to speak about caring for others (which was silly, since he cared about pretty much everyone even if he was shit at showing it and sometimes lapsed into darkness), and loving himself, and all that sappy nonsense, and Frey, his eyes searched her features. ”How’s that working out for you?” His voice was carefully neutral, devoid of the cruelty, coldness, and hardness she might’ve expected; indeed, he was almost genuinely curious about the answer.
It wasn’t that simple, and surely the midwife didn’t think so. ”You’re assuming Zariah lets them.” His cousin had very firm ideas about what family should and should not do, and even firmer ideas about how to enforce her desires. ”I was locked in a cell for my perceived disobedience and weakness growing up. And I thought it was my fault.” Time to see if the healer’s confidence held up in the face of that fact.
As Phoebe cajoled him to think about reality instead of paths not taken, he felt himself tense again. ”I don’t have much to…” He trailed off, not sure what he’d meant to say. ”I’ll try.” It was almost certain that he’d fail though.
It wasn’t that simple, and surely the midwife didn’t think so. ”You’re assuming Zariah lets them.” His cousin had very firm ideas about what family should and should not do, and even firmer ideas about how to enforce her desires. ”I was locked in a cell for my perceived disobedience and weakness growing up. And I thought it was my fault.” Time to see if the healer’s confidence held up in the face of that fact.
As Phoebe cajoled him to think about reality instead of paths not taken, he felt himself tense again. ”I don’t have much to…” He trailed off, not sure what he’d meant to say. ”I’ll try.” It was almost certain that he’d fail though.
But don’t be weary if it’s broken
Families are like that—
they’re split up and always torn.
