Broken Antler Fen She hangs her head and cries on my shirt

The tricky situation Wraen found herself in felt unpleasantly familiar - where no matter, what you said or how you tried to explain yourself, or what words you used, it all came out wrong and got worse the longer this continued. Terance came to her mind and those times she had wondered, how had it happened that once cordial sibling relationship had turned sour over several arguments, until neither recognized each other and they parted ways never to see each other again. Her not really mourning for his death and instead naming a tree after him. A memorial place she did not frequent that often at all. The sibling, who she recalled having good times with, but could not name a single moment that stood out. A fading memory of a person, who she felt a duty not to forget, but who did not really matter anymore. 

She realized, if she let Bronco storm off now, which would be an easy out of this whole mess, the same thing would happen. So many people came and went through the doors of her life, so very few had remained. As she got older, making new friendships got harder, but the number of close friends she had got went down. It was so easy to let people leave, even help them along, but so very difficult, nearly impossible to bring them back and start anew. There was a choice to make - would she allow the same thing happen to her and Bronco what had happend with Terance? In the end, had it been worth it? Had it not been better, if... but her brother was dead, speculations of "what if" were useless. But her friend was still here, angry and frustrated - that's for sure - but so much alive. To think that even his life was just a thread that was easy to break at any moment, to think that they had parted on bad terms yet again... that did not set well with her. 

"We have not yet finished," she told him, cutting off his path to exit. "Bronco, I know it is wrong of me to expect you to notice everything, but the point I am trying to make is - have some some empathy. At the time I had troubles of my own - that does not mean that yours were of any less importance, but people, who are sick, tired and troubled, are not exactly in the right place of feeling patient and understanding. They may be curt and they may choose the wrong words to tell, what they want to tell you. But it does not mean they care any less," she said. "Besides - has it occurred to you that you may have read my words and tone entirely wrong too? When I told you that "for each problem in the world there has been a precedent before", it was not meant to belittle you - what I trie to tell you was that, sharing with someone may help you sooner see an out of the issue. It is no use of letting it eat you, when a solution might be within your reach," Wraen explained. 

"Calling out on your bravery, perhaps, was the least appropriate joke in the situation, but I have learned my lesson and I will be more careful in the future. I won't attempt to either meddle or even attempt to help people, when I am in no shape to do so," she said with a sad smile. The rest of the speech was cut off by an ugly coughing spell that spanned out for a whole minute or so, until she was able to speak again. "Can we call it a truce? I do not want to lose a valuable friend over a..." she wanted to say "petty argument", but thought that she would somehow demean Bronco again. "...misunderstanding."