Talk enough sense and you'll lose your mind

I’ll hang around for a little bit. Jendayi felt her heart flutter gently, the idea of him lingering about in the background just to ensure her safety wanting her to draw him into the light—she wanted to ask him to stay with her, to journey with her, but then the thoughts receded. She had been alone for so long she did not know if she could handle the presence of another so overwhelmingly, and so soon. She turned to him, wide-eyed and wild as all young girls were, before it faltered into a small, gentle smile. Come and find me, he said, and Jendayi almost entertained the thought. As much as it hurt to betray her sense of solitude, it also felt so good to give into her insatiable desire to break her seclusion and be around others once more. She attempted to pry his words away as mere seducing, an attempt to get her to come home with him and his pack—she did not suspect Torin to be the sort, but it made it easier to leave if she thought of it in such a light.

His words shatter everything, however; the careful thought Jendayi had placed into the ideal that perhaps he was simply prying for new blood had all but withered away at his admissions. He is not greedy—he is lonely. Just like you. A low rumble exhaled from Jendayi’s lips, a sort of half-sigh. No friends—just a sister? Even Jendayi’s heart could not be steeled by such an admission. Ever the one to rescue the turtles stranded on the highway, even the solitude the young woman had long adopted and coveted could be set aside for the sake of another. It was the one lesson taken with her, the one reminiscent relic of the past even she refused to give up. She could give up her gods, her culture, and her family—but she could never give up her duty. Please pretend you never heard that, he quickly rectifies, and Jendayi suddenly finds herself at a crossroads. So easily she could play it off and resume with her adventures, humorously brush off a little, heard what? I didn’t hear anything and continue as she were. But something deep inside of her continued to tug at her, like unfurling claws clenching her heart, wrenching it until she swore she could no longer feel it beat.

“I don’t have any friends, either,” she admitted, but knew it was different. Hers was by choice, perhaps his was not. “Listen, Torin, I…” she began nervously, wondering how she could possibly word something so heavy, “I’m not really one to enjoy the pack life, but perhaps I could at least offer you a friend. I can go with you, stick around the area, until you find others to be with.” Certainly, a guy as noble as Torin would find friends easily. That way, Jendayi could rest easy knowing she hadn’t left him behind when she had the chance to make him happy.