wish i had a river i could skate away on

I'm sorry... too. Relief rushed through her veins, hot like adrenaline. It felt good to hear someone voice their sympathy, even Thalia's stilted and awkward words. Theory could tell that this kind of conversation didn't come easily to the Abraxas, which made her appreciate the sentiment all the more; not everyone was as in tune with their own emotions. It ran in the family, evident from Rhyme's fractured psyche in the face of Shaye's death. They were all so terribly in tune that they were drowning in their grief. Thalia felt like a brief respite from the storm of churning, ugly emotions.

She leaned against the smaller female as she came to sit next to her. Theory could almost rest her head on top of Thalia's but she resisted the familiar urge. The same intimacies didn't exist here that she shared with family and pack members - they had to carefully created, she guessed. There was no telling what might cause Thalia to draw away, but Theo hoped that she might stay by her side for a little longer. This feeling was different from pressing close to Poem or her father; an undercurrent of static or some other kind of electricity seemed to flow between them. By sitting next to her, Thalia had closed the circuit and activated the current.

"Now we... rebuild?" Theo replied, her self-doubt evident. "We've half returned to our former lands, but honestly, I only came back to bury my mother - and provide some kind of familiarity for everyone else. I think we needed that much," She paused to reflect. Serpent Plains just wasn't the same as it used to be and the nearby rapids had slowed significantly. Was it home she was chasing or the ghost of happier memories from long ago? "Honestly, I want to leave this place. Get as far away from that fucking mountain as possible. But it's not just about me anymore, it's about all of Abaven." It felt good to cuss. Sometimes she felt like she wasted more energy than she ought to on being nice and polite; lately she just didn't have enough left over to care.