Ashelia clenched her jaw. What an annoyingly perceptive man.
"Of course it is." The young queen might have been forced into being candid, but she was keeping her tone even. "My place is with my people. In Crystallis I could rationalize that stopping the cycle of the Calamity would save them, too, but even that wore thin as time went on."
There was also the deep-rooted frustration that, even here, so far away from her kingdom and the responsibilities that entailed, she still couldn't seem to achieve the freedom she sought. The desire kept rearing its ugly head, providing her with opportunity upon opportunity that she just could never take advantage of for one reason or another.
"There is naught to do but keep moving forward. Keep fighting. To protect them, to return to them. To protect the other displaced, to save the Princess." She shrugged, sipping her wine. "The only thing waiting down the other road is despair. I've chosen forgiveness in the past. Forgiveness is...considerably more difficult."
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"Of course it is." The young queen might have been forced into being candid, but she was keeping her tone even. "My place is with my people. In Crystallis I could rationalize that stopping the cycle of the Calamity would save them, too, but even that wore thin as time went on."
There was also the deep-rooted frustration that, even here, so far away from her kingdom and the responsibilities that entailed, she still couldn't seem to achieve the freedom she sought. The desire kept rearing its ugly head, providing her with opportunity upon opportunity that she just could never take advantage of for one reason or another.
"There is naught to do but keep moving forward. Keep fighting. To protect them, to return to them. To protect the other displaced, to save the Princess." She shrugged, sipping her wine. "The only thing waiting down the other road is despair. I've chosen forgiveness in the past. Forgiveness is...considerably more difficult."