Phantom Hollow A blizzard night

She simply sat down and listened as Shale spoke. Listened to him talk about his littlest child, along with his other children. And his wife. She could understand now why he had acted so strange and distant when they tried to treat that girl with the poppy seeds.

Hearing his story made her sad, as though she could see and feel how it must have felt. But that was just the things. She had no idea how that would have felt. She hadn't had to lose someone like Shale. Or felt violated as Anatha had been. Or been so angry as Howl had been when he lost Heartha and his children. It made her feel as though she didn't deserve what she had, and that others deserved it much more then she did. Feeling bad for all those who had been hurt so badly for no good reason, especially for Shale who stood before her and told his story.

"Shale...I....I...I'm so sorry that this happened to you." she paused choking on her words. "I wouldn't have asked you to...to..." she said unable to finishe her statement about when she asked him to get her poppys. "You don't deserve that." she said a few tears streaming down her face.

She felt bad for even crying. This was something that had happened to him, he was the one that was supposed to be sad if at all. Not her simply because she felt bad for him and others.