Redsand Canyon I don't know the half of it anymore

Did not anticipate the route she took in this thread but I am sooooo not mad about it

She didn’t know how to address her own guilt for settling down in Mereo. What if her father brought the full force of the Trail to take her back and force her commitment that he had made for her? What if instead Dmitri took matters into his own paws? She preferred not to think of either scenario for so long, but now that she had started to consider them, she couldn’t stop. She felt her chest tighten as the anxiety settled on her chest, offering such a rare moment of rawness about her in turn. She felt the need to reign it in, to push it down. No one needed to know. It was her own burden to carry.
 
She heard his apology, his promise on behalf of him and the rest of Mereo but it did little to bring her ease. Even the comforting embrace of his safe presence around her did little in that moment to settle the tight and uncomfortable burning in her chest… and you are learning how to defend yourself. It was true, and the Imperator seemed to see great promise in her… “But they’ve fought wars, trained to be ruthless in a way I never could…” The words trailed off as the doubt settled in. Women were simply… weaker. In their eyes, they always had been. How could she possibly put up a fight against them?