father of mine

They crashed to the ground together. Theory pressed her head into the fur of Rhyme's chest. It smelled familiar with an overlay of ash and grime, like he hadn't bathed properly in a while. No one had any time for things like that. She accepted his affection, returning it eagerly. His embrace was home, just as much as anything Abaven felt like home. The pressure had been building for so long that it was a relief to finally have some kind of release.

"This is so much harder than I ever thought," she admitted, embarrassed to have been caught out looking like a fool in front of her father. Of course she had known it would be difficult, but everyone looked to her and Shaye in the face of disaster. It was a heavier weight than she'd ever imagined. Her transition to leadership had been anything but easy. "Where do we even go from here? How can we ever return to those lands after the fire, the eruption?" she whispered.