The Way It Ends

He started explaining, and the more he kept talking the more her heart sank into her stomach. Her ears flattened to her head. No!. He wasn’t going to say what she thought he was going to; there was no way. He couldn’t. He couldn’t just - he did. Vali breathed in deeply, and let it out in a shuddering breath. Every fiber fought against him leaving. What if they found him, that kingdom in the north? Killed him, ate him? She wanted to say no. She wanted to fight against that decision he’d made, but she saw the look in his eyes. It was one where he wouldn’t listen to reason, and she was desperately searching for something to say.

“I-I…” she stuttered, though she shut up quickly. Why? She wanted to ask that so bad. Why did he have to obsess over it, focus so deeply on it? “We can still send out search parties! You don’t have to leave…” her voice quieted at the end, the words almost coming out as a mumble. She stared at him with stricken eyes, not knowing how to fight this.