Stavanger Bay if "i love you" was a promise

it was for her... a new question now hung upon her lips. why had he come here? what was the original intent of his visit? why would he bring her such a treasure? dalia wanted to ask-- but the words caught in her throat as he pressed her for more of an answer, and a gentle sob shook her from her previous composure. her gaze was firmly set to the pearl, even as his head bobbed to try to find the green-blue of her eyes, it remained locked on the object.

tears welled at the corners of her eyes. she didn't want to repeat it. she'd said it once-- how could she say it again? oh... but he would just ask ford... what good would it do to just stay quiet? 

she was silent for a while, even as emotion overcame her in a raging crash of stormy waters-- she had to muster up the courage, again, to say the words she had so desperately wanted to withhold from everyone. in her silence, her muscles still obviously tensed, she reached out a single dainty forepaw to pull the pearl towards her. 

"i'm so trapped," she finally set free, in a voice that was so quiet it almost fell away with the breeze, "between wanting to be silent and wanting to tell everyone." her ears pressed to her skull, but her gaze found his now, instead of the pearl. but it was brief, and her seaglass gaze fell away once more, back to the pearl. a little louder, but shakier now, dalia said, "a man... forced himself upon me." 

and she waited the response, gaze pressed to the little pearl cradled between her pale paws.