starter for @musingnook | esra
"I'm sorry... it's a lot to take in." He felt faint. At first waking up here—waking up at all—had seemed like such a great blessing. For starters, he had been reunited with his beautiful wife. That was beyond compare. Finding out the fiends kind of, not really responsible for her death were able to walked unchecked? Less so. The rest was more... complicated. Aslan loved his wife more than anything else in the world. He also knew that although she did love him back, her heart would never beat against his in the way he most desired. She would forever belong to another. So why was she still... tied to him? Was the world that had been thrust upon them still so unforgiving? It was with the upmost painful flicker of selfishness that he was thankful. A guilty feeling. Esra, of course, deserved better than a life of imitation... but he did not and would have accepted as much without a second thought. To be in her presence was a blessing, to have responsibility over her happiness a purpose in life—everything else was secondary. "Did we... fail? Is that really what happened?"