Blacktail Deer Plateau Don't be a fool for the city lights

For Dante, the opposite occurred.  While he did not recognize her on sight, when she spoke, something clicked.  For a moment he stood stock still, his brain trying to catch up to the implications of that voice.  And then he saw.

"Os?"  It came out softly, dumbfounded.  He'd given up hope, assumed her gone, never to be seen again.  And even now he had a hard time believing.  All this time, and suddenly she was back.  He barely saw the condition she was in anymore, so taken aback by the fact that she stood before her.  He didn't know how to react.

They had had their differences, but she'd been one of his closest friends before disappearing.  Perhaps even more.  It had rocked him, and now that she was here, his first instinct should have been joy.  But even as his conscious thought adjusted, he was conflicted.  Where had she been?  If this was her home, why had it taken her so long to come back?  They had needed her.  He had needed her.  And she had left them.

It wasn't rational, that accusation.  Her state gave an idea of what she had gone through in her time since the fire.  But in this instance, logic gave way to a surge of confused and misplaced anger, and he shut down.

"You're alive."  A statement, and he continued to stare as he delivered it.  He made no move yet to close the space, but instead remained still, leaving unspoken questions hanging in the air between them.