Monday, December 9, 2019

Page 1956

((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
'Hello there, Lord Goffe,' said Ojarea as he approached.

Selena looked up at him with apparent surprise but didn't say anything.

"Hello," said Hector, very calmly. He didn't have much justification for taking a suspicious or accusatorial tone, nor did he think that would be especially helpful even if he did. "How are the two of you doing?"

'We're doing very well,' said Ojarea.

"Y-yes," said Selena. "Thank you for asking."

Hector just looked between them for a moment.

Garovel's private voice arrived from afar with more information. 'Apparently, they're being granted a bit of time together, today. Joana's decision.'

Hector was glad he hadn't said anything out of turn. He didn't quite feel ready to leave them alone just yet, though. "Is... there anything I might be able to help with?"

And to his surprise, they both seemed to hesitate. It looked like they might be exchanging words privately, but of course, there was no way to tell.

Selena's eyes darted between the floor and Ojarea, before finally landing on Hector. "We have been having a--"

'Selena, don't trouble him.'

"He asked, didn't he?"

'As a guest, you shouldn't trouble your host. And as a Rainlord, you--'

Hector chose to interject. "It's alright." He was trying to smile but probably not succeeding. "Please, ah... tell me what's bothering you."

After another few moments of timidity, Selena said, "We are having... a bit of a disagreement."

Hector expected Ojarea to chime in again, but she just floated there, her hollow eye sockets seemingly devoid of emotion.

"I... hate fighting," said Selena. "I don't... I don't want to do it anymore. But Ojarea says that I--that I have to."

Hector looked at the reaper again, but she didn't say anything. He took a moment to mull over Selena's words.

Thinking back, something seemed strange to him. Certainly, he remembered the instance where she'd apparently frozen up in the middle of the fight with the worm on the train and been yelled at by Ojarea here, but he also recalled an encounter with her slightly earlier, before that had actually broken out.

"When we spoke on the train, you seemed pretty eager to fight," he said. "A little too eager, I thought..."

She averted her gaze and looked at the ground. "That was just--I was... I was being foolish. I'd never been in a real battle before, and I thought--I was trying to... agh..."

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