Without me

He apologized and she was quick to shake her head hard. "Don't be," she managed to reply, the words sounding choked with all the emotion she was trying to hold back. She'd known that he wouldn't leave for no reason. It would have been great if he'd told her he was leaving, but that was in the past now and she wasn't interested in holding a grudge against her elderly father.

He went on to speak about her mother and to tell her that someone else had found her. Caelestis struggled to maintain any sort of composure and did her best to just nod and not fall apart. It was the words that followed that really got her. Brow furrowing, she tried to process them for a long moment. Voice going soft, she felt more tears spilling down her cheeks as she asked, "You... aren't going soon are you? I... I need you dad." her breathing quickened and she was bordering on being in danger of hyperventilating. Something in how he said that suddenly had her worried. Really worried. Maybe... maybe she could grab him by the scruff and drag him into the territory if that was what she needed to do? The most frightening thing of all was that she had the sudden realization that she couldn't really make him stay. He was old, like mom, and the sinking feeling in her stomach said that he probably didn't have a lot of time left no matter what she did. Cael had never felt so totally powerless.