Eight Intertwined II

231 - Human

Primrose had hoped she would never need to return here. 

As she, H'aanit, and Tressa stepped onto the sands near Sunshade, Primrose let out a heavy sigh. She knew why they were there. Helgenish had been associated with Rufus for years before his death, and there was a chance--albeit a slim one--that there were still traces of his old Obsidian activities in town. Primrose knew she had a duty to investigate it with all she had even if she didn't like the idea of being there again. She needed to see this through regardless of how ill-prepared she felt. 

Primrose hesitated for a long moment just outside the border of town. She was a stone's throw away from Yusufa's grave, and she almost selfishly wanted to hold off the investigation a little bit longer to go and see her. So much had happened since Primrose had last been there to see to her friend's memorial. Primrose hadn't even stuck around to see the aftermath of Helgenish's downfall, too desperate to get away from the city that had ruined her so completely to bother. That meant she hadn't seen Yusufa in ages... And Primrose needed to do something to change that. She owed it to her old friend regardless of if she thought she had a right to face her again or not. 

"We can go see her, you know," Tressa suggested gently. "If you want to check on Ysufua's grave, then we can. We'd be happy to come with you. We can wait a little bit longer before we look around town."

Primrose nodded, feeling her throat threaten to close up on her. "Yeah... You're right." She had hesitated at the idea of being assigned to look around Sunshade for the investigation, but she knew it was the best course of action. After all, she knew more about the city than any of her friends. She needed to see the town again after all she had done to change it in her final day there. Primrose didn't like the idea of returning, but she knew it was necessary. She knew this was what she had to do. All that was left was to see it through. "Let's do it."

H'aanit remained close to Primrose as they wandered over to the grave where it stood proud against the gentle drifts of sand. On a windy day, it would be almost impossible to see, but today, the air was still, almost as if it was asking Primrose to do everything she could to greet her old friend. Primrose swallowed dryly, but the desert in her throat had nothing to do with the heat surrounding her. Geoffrey's grave wasn't the only one she had been avoiding, but for some reason, facing Yusufa was far harder than introducing her friends to her father had been. 

Primrose crouched beside Yusufa's grave, slowly letting a smile cross her features regardless of how bittersweet it was. "Hello, Yusufa... It's been a while," she began. As soon as she started talking though, the rest of her words flowed out of her like there had never been anything holding her back in the first place. "I'm sorry I didn't come to visit you sooner. I was meaning to since I... Since I didn't really get the chance to say goodbye the first time. I've been following my plan though. I murdered all of the men who killed my father, and... I think I've set the world free of a little bit of their corruption. I wish I could have gotten to them before Helgenish got to you though, and... I'm sorry I was too late."

Primrose paused for a moment before she glanced up at H'aanit and Tressa. "I never got the chance to introduce you to my friends, but... These two are H'aanit and Tressa. H'aanit is... She's actually my girlfriend now. She's been amazing. I don't think I ever would have made it this far if she hadn't been there to keep me going. Tressa... I think the two of you would have been really good friends. She saw the good in me even when no one else did. She's a lot like you in that way." 

Primrose brushed her fingers across the grave, wiping a few small grains of sand off the rock in the process. "I hope you've been watching over me... I know I've been remembering you. I hope I can come back to visit you a bit more often in the future too. I feel like it's the least I can do after you gave me the chance to live to see another day in the first place. I'm doing my best to be the kind of woman that you would have been proud of, and... I hope that you are. I really do."