She approaches Oifey with slight apprehension. She knows he said to do what she felt is necessary, but that does not necessarily mean she did what is right. Still, she cannot avoid this forever. “Oifey… do you suppose that battle could have gone any differently? That we should have- I should have done anything different? No matter how hard I try, I cannot shake off the feeling that I could have done more for this village.”
The look he passes cannot be called a sad one, yet the remorse is unmistakeable for reasons unknown as he beckons for her to come closer to the roaring bonfire. He knows this spiral of thoughts all too well, a sequence that flows lower and lower in a spiral of self-doubt until nought but the past remains to be consumed by it. It's a curse, no one of magic but of the mind as it burns, and so he resolves to alleviate it in whichever way is open to him. Oifey cannot claim to be a counselor, yet ailments of the mind are a familiar thing for those who have grown accustomed to war and it's price as he reaches for the thermos pilfered from a colleague.
"Tea?" He doesn't wait for an answer, unscrewing the cap and pouring the dark liquid into it as the young woman settles beside him. He does not judge for doubt, for doubt is oh so common after war, as he offers the cup. "An unpleasant feeling, isn't it? That lingering ember of doubt that maybe if you had've been a few hours faster a family would still have their homes, perhaps a father would have come home if we had of been just a hair faster, an ounce stronger..."
A sigh, steel in his gaze as his head turns, outstretching an arm to pat the young warrior on her shoulder. "Do you know what that makes you Panette? Human, as human as any other. Even now I remember the face of every villager and towns person I met travelling one edge of the continent to the other, you know, always wondering what if..."
"If there's any lesson to know from have learnt let it be this, keep them with you, let the grateful faces pull you from the shadow of doubt and the shadows of the past, remind yourself you gave enough."













