Wheeling Gull Isle All this sand but only one grain changed me

His ear twitched, an almost-glance towards the mainland as he tried to remember if he'd seen smoke around. He didn't think so, though. So if it wasn't the forest she'd mentioned before, then somewhere else? He wasn't going to ask and dig just based on the fact right now he didn't want anyone digging into his own pain. But at the mention of the earthquakes, he nodded. It felt like it was so long ago. Was it? It felt like a lifetime. Plenty of time and trauma between now and then. Things back then probably seemed so mundane by comparison.

But it was too little too late for some. In other words, good luck convincing him it wasn't his fault in the end. He'd tried, but things never went his way -- too many bad things had happened. He'd let everyone down. How many faces were gone, in one way or another, because of his inaction? Because he tried too long at something that was ultimately futile? And from there, he didn't know what to say. A moment of silence and he continued, with a shake of his head, I'm sorry. I'm bad company these days. I can go. It was that awkwardness -- he didn't want to inflict it on her if she didn't want to deal with it. Aibreann was the one who had to deal with his foul mood the most, and it wasn't fair to her either. This wasn't who he was supposed to be, but he was stuck here.