Dragoncrest Cliffs Break your fall

Wildfire's eyes narrowed, mostly in confusion. Her lips moved but no words came out. "My loyalty?" she managed eventually, perplexity momentarily stalling her completely. Then she realized what the Heda meant and her heart skipped a few beats before plummeting back into her feet. "Oh." She grew still, blinking rapidly against the moisture building behind her own eyes.

"Would you really want me to stay here?" The words just tumbled out, backed by entirely authentic surprise. For some reason, the possibility of remaining in Drageda without being with Thuringwethil hadn't even occurred to her. They were pretty much one and the same in Wildfire's heart of hearts. "Do you know how painful that would be? For both of us?" She swallowed, pushing away flashbacks of Floki and Moonspear.

A long beat of silence passed before Wildfire spoke again. "Of course I'm loyal to Drageda." It came out a little defensively. "And I know what it means to walk away," she added with a gusty breath, wondering how she was managing stringing words together with her insides flipping and flopping so violently. "I'd do it to get out of your face, Thur," she continued almost woodenly, "so that you—so that we—can heal and move on. And not be constantly reminded of the love and life we lost."

Her head dropped as the lump in her throat finally stole her voice. "That is not what I want," Thuringwethil had said only a moment ago. Wildfire didn't want it either. But even if she had the strength to fight for it—and she really didn't—wouldn't it be a useless waste of time if the Heda's traditions were incompatible with Wildfire's vision for a family? This couldn't work without some sort of sacrifice and neither one of them should have to give up things so dear and important to them. It was all incredibly unfair.