with knowledge comes great responsibility

[anythingforyou]

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

Comments

[hyruglyphics]

[ Unfair...

Yes, it was unfair. ]

It really had been quite unfair. ... To everyone. [ She looks down at her hands. And perhaps because it is Camilla, and for whatever misgivings the woman sometimes gives her she has been kind, she just... continues, unbidden. Her green eyes swim a little. ] For ten long, long years the gods and spirits were ever silent to my devotion. Nothing I did- ... nothing worked. Ever was I ill-equipped to face my destiny, and eventually, I just came to see the failure as being inevitable. ... So many were counting on me, and my father- [ She chokes a little there and she closes her eyes ] ... My father most of all.

[anythingforyou]

[...

Gods, this is all painful to hear. Like, Camilla has no context for a good relationship with her parents, and she's assuming that Zelda must have had...well, maybe a decent relationship with her own father. She hopes so, at least, but...]

You should have never had to see it as inevitable. That the gods couldn't even answer simple, devoted prayers for help...it's horrific and cruel.

[Camilla honestly sounds lowkey furious.]

Your father...he never blamed you for any of that, did he...?

[hyruglyphics]

[ Zelda recoils, as if struck by that. There's... there's no good answer for that, is there. She shrinks a little bit, and she... ]

I- [ She swallows and, ] ... I would- I would ... [ goddess, she is really on the edge of a sob again. But she steels herself, wills herself to be stronger. ] I would hope so.

[anythingforyou]

[...Zelda, were it not for the fact that she was sick, she'd be both hugging you and proclaiming that you are her child now.

Such things run in the family, you see--]

He better not. None of you could have predicted that the gods would just--just turn away like that! It's hideous! What, did they expect--

[Her voice rises with each word, giving way from frustration to boiling hot anger--it's only stopped by her forcing herself to turn away and cough.]

[hyruglyphics]

[ Honestly the anger is at once really vindicating and really scary. It sounds a lot like the sum of the frustrations she had for years, but at the same time, it's still something that she can't bring herself to feel, let alone say. Still, she cuts in after a moment there and... ]

He pushed me because it was necessary! I just... I wish our final conversation had gone better.

[anythingforyou]

[Okay, Camilla will at least bite her tongue at that much--she's definitely projecting too much of her own father onto what little Zelda is telling her of her own. But...]

...What did he say to you?

[hyruglyphics]

It was another argument... the Calamity was coming closer and closer and - he... forbade me from waisting more time playing at being a scholar.

[ She was so furious back then. But for that to be their final conversation.... ]