Honey, I'm Home!

Her family had not taken Malleus's death well, nor Aureus's, though at least for Aureus they'd had time to properly mourn him and conduct a proper funeral. Having some proper closure was a comfort, albeit a small one. There was no way to easily come to terms with death, not in the manner Aureus had died. Perhaps if he'd gone a different way they might celebrate his death, but he'd been too young, his life taken too swiftly by little more than an unfortunate accident. "Apparently so," she acknowledged quietly, content to lean against Theory and bask in her warmth. She understood the feeling of grieving while needing to remain outwardly strong; Thalia didn't quite have the weight of a pack relying on her in the same way Theory did, but the need to seem strong and unbreakable was sometimes suffocating. Especially when she worried she was anything but. When it seemed inevitable that she might let down Eligos, against all her efforts, and she might not be welcomed home. The thought alone merely made her deflate, but the pressure of Theory leaning against her felt like it might be the only thing keeping her upright.

Theory had looked to a higher power in her absence, and admitted she'd prayed. Though she didn't know if anyone had heard her, but seemed to imply that Thalia's return might have signified.. something? Something like hope flickered in her chest at the thought, even if she knew the feeling was foolish. Converting anyone was hardly an easy feat, even if her father had somehow pulled it off. Theory wouldn't be swayed so easily, if at all. "I'm glad you worried for me," she admitted quietly. Theory's voice, quiet against her ear, sent a cascade of shivers down her spine - she hoped her slight fidgeting was easily ignored. The thought that Theory had worried for her to the point of praying to a god (or gods?) that she didn't believe in sent a weird thrill through her. She'd been desperate. For her. What exactly did that mean? "I worried I might not want to come back here. Seeing my family like that, and wanting to be there for them. But I wouldn't want you to... get the wrong idea." That she wasn't a wolf of her word, that her presence here wouldn't benefit Abaven in some way, that she didn't want to be here... with her, for her. At least that was part of the reason, and the one that occupied the forefront of her mind whenever she was this close to her.