King Elk Forest -- we both know a break does exactly what it says on the tin

her slender jaw parts as her eyes turn liquid, and her breath hitches in her throat.  in reality, it doesn't matter what happened to her (it matters to her, oh yes) but the reception she got upon her return home.

she didn't understand why nobody else understood that.

oh, delight.  her voice is full of almost fondness, wavering with ripples of hurt. of course, i forgive you.  i must forgive you both — if i am to grow from this, if i am to survive.

she lowers her head, eyes cast at the ground. i love him.  i will always love him.  but he is not mine, and he never was.  what he did to me, how he treated me was wrong.  but maybe i was not as passionate or receptive as i could have been.

she thought of her dark friend waiting for her in the woods.  her heart is torn; she loves delight, she loves mato.  but she is infatuated with that girl and the moments they shared in the den, her tending brienne's wounds.

i cannot promise i will always stay here.  but delight, this is not your fault.  as much as she wanted it to be, somehow.