Eight Intertwined

37 - Confession

The story had come out in one large burst when Primrose was finally able to gather the party together so that she could share the truth of her rationale behind traveling in the first place. She couldn't seem to make herself stop talking once she had started, and the words simply flowed in a way that she couldn't prevent. Primrose sounded more like she was talking about bad weather or a simple report with her tone, detached and dismal as it was, rather than her darkest traumas and issues. Then again, Primrose supposed that it was easier to frame her issues in that way when push came to shove. 

She refused to make eye contact with anyone as she explained the story, instead choosing to concentrate on the floor below. She didn't give anyone the chance to offer much of a response either, figuring that she would be able to face their disgust after everything had already been placed out on the table for them to understand. It was better to cope with it all at once rather than to deal with the painstaking process of everything being dripped down to her mind and emotions as the minutes went by, after all. 

When Primrose finally did glance up, her explanation finishing with the fact that she was following the path Helgenish had left behind, she was met with seven expressions of horror. Even Linde and Hägen, animalistic as they were, seemed to realize that there was something incredibly solemn being discussed. Primrose's immediate reaction to the horrified expressions was to prepare to rise to her feet and gather her things to leave. Surely H'aanit would prefer to sleep alone in the room for the night anyway, especially given that she had multiple animals following her trail with every passing second. 

That was when the unexpected happened. Tressa, who had been sitting near Primrose on the bed, practically threw herself at the dancer, her arms wrapping around the brown-haired woman's torso. Primrose was still as could be for a long moment, unsure of how she was meant to respond to this, before she shifted her attention so that she was staring down at Tressa directly. Something in the back of her mind instructed her to say something, anything, but she wasn't able to actually convince her mouth to follow those directions. 

"That's awful... I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Tressa murmured. "I wish that I could kill Helgenish again, but I know that we can't bring back the dead."

Primrose couldn't help but feel as if she had been the one stabbed in the chest at those words rather thane Helgenish, the knife twisting in the cavern of her ribcage. Still, she did her best to shake it off, though that did little to help with the fact that she was still breathless and struggling to say much of anything in response to Tressa's reaction to the tale. 

"I don't know what to say..." Ophilia said, her eyes still wide as could be. "Those three men who killed your father... I understand why you're doing this, Primrose. I can see why you decided to hide it from us up to this point too. This is a lot to handle all at once, but you aren't going to have to face it on your own anymore."

Primrose wanted to say something. Truly, she did, but she wasn't able to make herself no matter how hard she tried. Instead, she was ultimately cut off by a decisive nod from none other than Alfyn. "I agree with Phili. You want to go after them because they destroyed your childhood and took your father away from you, and that's not something that I can particularly fault you for. Just... Don't try to do all of this on your own, alright? Helgenish sounds like he was dangerous enough, and these men of the crow are bound to be worse."

"Surely there are no objections to us continuing to accompany you from here on out," Olberic said as he eyed Primrose with hardened determination and scrutiny. His arms were crossed, and everything about him was somewhat shaded. Then again, Primrose supposed that if anybody was going to understand what she was struggling with, it was going to be him. After all, Olberic was on a quest that could potentially lead him to revenge as well, so he was bound to comprehend the issue that she was attempting to confront.