Bearclaw Valley A life of pain is the pain of life, and you can never escape it

im good to wrap this! Since it's an oldie and I've been slow on him <3

Ashlar heard the strain in the other man's voice and he felt himself instinctually cave, folding before it with no further protest. The strange anger persisted but it was not enough to overcome a lifetime of compassionate passivity. The boy was incapable of turning himself into such an inconvenience.

So it was not his decision then, but Avicus'. If Ashlar had wanted answers he would have needed to ask his friend, but she was gone now. If it was like others who had gone as well, he would never see his answers, for friends who left rarely returned.

She'd done so once, but for perhaps the first time, he could summon no hope that it would happen again.

Okay. He said it quietly. Then his ears splayed as suddenly, he was embarrassed for the way he'd confronted only moments ago. His belly dropped until it met the ground. Sorry. Thanks. Meekly, he began to seek a way to leave, sensing he'd bordered a line he failed to understand in the moment. All of the brief urge to fight left him, and in its absence nothing but the desire to do no more harm remained.