Amalia
A deeper conversation is all I want from you-
Home.She isn't ready.
The Shield who returns is a far cry from the girl who Deimos last saw, different even from the one summoned in the night by Vi. There is a pride and weariness in her eyes, a hardness to her stance that masks the searing wounds struck in her soul. It was a long and difficult walk back from the Climb, Kiada's absence felt keenly in every step; yet rivers of magma and tunnels of glass were nothing compared to what she now faces, the thing she still must do.
She has to tell him.
Bare feet mark the path home without any hesitation, the familiar roads and pathways veins by which she journeys. Her soles are torn and nearly bleeding - she'd been able to half-shift when she left, a gift she must now earn again - but it's nothing compared to the sinking terror that mounts as she draws closer and closer to the Sword. She nearly stops when he comes into view, does stumble, a sob choking in her throat at the sight of him and Zuriel so wonderfully at ease. And when he smiles she can feel her heart break all over again, because gods she doesn't want to be the one to wipe away that happiness.
Not again.
So she schools herself as she never could before, swallowing down all of the pain and putting on a braver face. Muted as she is through the Attuned bond it is easier than it might have been; there is scarcely a warble in her alto voice as she walks the rest of the way up the lane to their home, smiling to keep herself from breaking beneath the weight she holds.
- I want the words you're afraid to say:
the lonely ones you keep hidden
between the folds of your heart
