I Came For You

Chrystelle did her best to hide how much her childhood illness still affected her and for the most part she was pretty successful in that pursuit. She kept to herself on days where her symptoms flared the worst or on days where she knew she was going to be out hunting for herbs or doing something else that might aggravate her damaged lungs. It was a very, very rare occasion where she might get into a coughing fit like this in front of her brother purely because she didn't want to worry him. She did everything she could to make sure that he didn't have any additional stress or concerns when he was already dealing with so much of his own. Aslatiel's visit had been a surprise so she hadn't had a moment to prepare and take anything that might have prevented this from happening. She knew she should have just kept her nose out of it so this situation wouldn't have happened to begin with, but her curiosity and her dependance on keeping Ocean in her life drove her here anyway.

Now she couldn't hide it and was embarrassed not only that Ocean had to see him like this but also this stranger that he seemed so smitten with. Her ears fell back against her head as he came up beside her, his shoulder against her own. She couldn't make herself lift her gaze to meet his even has he nuzzled her neck and asked if there was anything he could do. She gave a little shake of her head, not because she was denying his help, but because she genuinely didn't know what to do or how to even help herself - much less being able to tell Ocean what he could do to help her. "I just haven't had any treatments today... that's all," she assured him softly, leaning gently into his side. She had already accepted that she wasn't ever going to be fully healed. At this point it was just minimizing the symptoms and trying to keep herself from coughing too badly, but even that had been hard to do lately.

"Herbs are hard to find around here," she mentioned, pausing to clear her throat. "So I try not to use them every day." She didn't want to admit that wasn't even certain if she had any left that would help her current state, but she knew just getting back to her room where she could get out of the cold wind would help. She wrestled with the guilt she felt over pulling him away from his guest so she pulled a smile onto her lips and looked up at him again. "You should go back to her. I'm okay," she insisted even though she knew it was at least partially a lie, giving his shoulder a small nudge. She wanted to see him happy again even if it meant giving him up in the process. It never occurred to her that there could be a possibility that she could leave with him. Ocean was big and strong. There was at least a chance that he could fight for his freedom if he wanted to go. That wasn't something Chrystelle couldn't even dream of doing.

"Chrystelle"