Hushed Willows this common blood ii

The guardian's brusque manner might have been appreciated at other times, under different woes, but right then, it only served to cement what he'd already been thinking:

Nobody cared about him anyone. Nobody.

And, althought Lumiya's inherent sweetness had served to make him uncomfortable the first time he'd met her, her concerned voice was a balm on his bleeding soul, today. He looked up at her with a helpless expression on his face and said, "My dad. He — he's..."

But he couldn't finish the thought. He choked on another sob and shook his head, his mind beginning to short-circuit as he tried to make sense of his grief, and of what he'd seen on the plains, and of Steph's sudden reappearance and talk of burying his father — burying him in Easthollow, where he'd been born, but where Valiant felt very little connection.

"I don't know what to do," he whimpered, feeling very young and pitiable.