Jean's Journal

Entry #100

Month: April
Day: 17th
Year: 857

I've had some incredibly uncomfortable moments in my life, but tonight's dinner will stay with me for a long time.

After much back and forth, and a lot of insistence from Connie's mother, Aidan Bozard joined the group for dinner this evening.

We had all been at a loss as to what to do with Connie's killer who spent his time in a cell on the ship. He was only kid, an angry kid, still not coping with losing his older brother years ago.

But he had seemed to soften a bit after talking to Gabi. If anyone one of us could understand this kid it was her.

I will admit, I still find it hard to look a Gabi sometimes. I know she will carry the burden of guilt with her forever, and she looks so much like Sasha as she gets older. After the war, Connie never really spoke to her, just acknowledge that she was just there.

It's crazy how Connie and Sasha's deaths are so similar. An angry kid, misled, looking for revenge, and a grieving family who seem to have an incredible amount of compassion.

Mrs. Springer has never really showed anger towards Aiden. She misses Connie dearly, and still spends evenings crying over his death, but some how she can see past this angry 15 year old, and see that he was just a scared kid, who had grown up in a cruel world.

So which is how we ended with tonight. Niccolo prepared an excellent dinner as usual, and we all sat down to eat.

It was odd. Artur and Lisa were in conversation with Mrs. Springer, talking about Connie and Sasha. It was sad to see in a way, two families imagine what could have been. But I know Connie and Sasha are both happy to see their families coming together. Though they should have been brought together through a marriage not death. Falco was engaged in some light conversation with Kaya, who really just didn't seem interested in food that night. She really hasn't been herself. Pieck and Armin were going on about some bookstore that was in the town, and Annie was chatting with Onyonkapon, and Niccolo about wines.

But at different moments during the dinner, eyes would shifted over to the young teen at the table. Aidan looked frightened. Armin had insisted that armed guard stop standing over him, "he's not going to do anything".

Aidan's eyes shifted from me, to Connie's mom, and to Annie.

I tired to lighten the mood a bit, joking that the food wasn't poisoned. Got a chuckle out of Niccolo. Falco laughed as well, "don't worry nobody is going to hurt you here".

"Sweet heart you need to eat, and Mr. Niccolo here is a fine chef", Mrs. Springer reach out to touch his arm. He jumped a bit.

"Why-why are you being so kind to me?" Aidan said with his eyes lowered.

"Because hatred we have learned gets us nowhere, might surprise you, but that young lady right their" Artur said point his fork at Gabi "she killed my daughter 4 years ago and now we are all sitting around a table sharing yet another meal together."

"Yeah, she mentioned that". Aidan said then finally took a bite of food. "This is good Mr. Niccolo", he said quietly.

"It makes no sense to keep the cycle of revenge going, that's something we are trying to stop" Armin had said.

Artur looked at Gabi, "you and this boy yall be talking?"

"Yeah I went to his cell a few days ago, thought I could related to him, maybe help somehow". Gabi had said quietly.

"Makes sense, two killers understanding each other", Kaya said cooly.

Lisa scolded Kaya, and Kaya had returned to playing with her food, shooting icy glances at Gabi.