Stone Circle it wasn't your weight to hold

just as cyron thinks that they will part, here and now, as the strangers they'd become to one another over the course of their separation from one another — something that was out of either of their control — rowana speaks again, bringing up what he'd deduced himself. they are strangers. they share blood, they are siblings but they hadn't grown up with one another. it's not rowana's fault that she remembers who he used to be, the boy before the kidnapping ...just as it's not his parents fault. the broken man that returned to them was a stranger and even when cyron managed to piece himself together into something more he knows that in the end he would be what blackfeather woods had made him to be. he could not rip out of himself what they'd placed there; and he knows that he's left facing two options: to let those pieces of himself — their influence — make him a good man or a bad one.

"to be fair i don't really know myself." cyron's scarred lips part as he eventually replies. it was a harrowing journey of self discovery that cyron tests the waters of with a deliberate slowness. it's not anyone else he's afraid of. he's afraid of himself. coming to that realization brings with it a certain amount of relief and for a moment he feels buoyant and lighter than he has in what indefinitely feelings like a magnitude of lifetimes. it does not linger long. his sister is making an effort and though there are things he will not share with her, many things that he would like to keep close to his chest, he does not want to suffocate with guilt anymore. his ears taper back, fluttering against his skull and his curled tail gives a minuscule twitch behind his back as rowana speaks to him again telling him that she wants him to talk to her and that she needs to talk to him. cyron considers this for a long moment and then contemplates whether he's strong enough for it.

the conclusion is that cyron isn't sure but he sees that there's something still left between them and his sister is holding out a hand to him. "we're good." cyron concludes, affirming it with a quick albeit firm nod of his head.

the siblings talk for a little bit more though cyron is not overly forthcoming and deflects any questions she might aim towards him that delve too deep into the category of topics he does not wish to speak. eventually, their conversation comes to a natural end and the pair part ways.