another one bites the dust

Maea

And time it waits for no one
It heals them when you die

In the end, it was difficult to say if it helped. The crying. Maea had cried like a child in Sunjata's arms when he told her he needed time away, to figure himself out. She had cried bitter tears into her pillow in the long nights ever since he left her on the cliffs of Aumakua, to find her own way back from the shattered remnants of that dream. Now she stood here, crying once more, and possibly the only good thing that came out of it was letting Loren feel needed, and making her tired. It certainly did nothing to lessen the grief or the pain she felt.

It took time for the sobs to abate. A long time. But the soothing strokes over her hair kept Maea from trying to break it off on her own, from pulling away to bite it all back down and give him a chance to withdraw. With all that selfish willfullness, she took full advantage of Loren's offer of sympathy, and cried until there were no more tears left in her.

And then, she just stood there. Leaning against the healer, sniffling. Her shoulders occationally shuddering as breaths hitched and caught, the hiccuping sobs of a child... because Maea was too exhausted to care about holding herself together at this point.

And soon you are forgotten
A whisper within a sigh