The first person Mahina saw when she came back to spread the news of what her and Clarae had just witnessed was Rowan. The tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn’t voice what she had come to announce. Even though she knew Rowan could tell something was deeply wrong and could probably hear her thoughts all Mahina could think about was how she could have done more.
Her throat was tight as she stood there with more faces gathering around to stair at her and the blonde and she wanted to shrink into the ground and never come back. Big tears streamed down her face as her stayed on Rowan, I could have done more. I could have tried harder. She thought standing there frozen, but I was a coward.
It wasn’t until the panic of the crowd started that she could even make her way over to the Queen of Southland. Her eye contact dropping to less with every step. Rowan could hear her, but she couldn’t hear Rowan. What if she reprimanded her? Or called her out on her thoughts confirming what Mahina already felt like, a coward. “I..” her jaw trembled and her head stayed bowed, her curls hiding her eyes, “I could have helped them. I could have saved them.”