Redhawk Caldera i loved you first

Grief got harder every time it happened, and at the same time easier. Eljay found that it didn't hit as hard as the death of many of those around him. And yet, the grief of those around him all the harder. Perhaps it was that he saw himself mirrored in them; his old self, the grief he had gone through many times. The rawness of the pain, the inevitable tears, now replaced in himself by the weariness of time & grief and with a blunted edge to it. Perhaps it helped that it was not so sudden, this time. He had seen the decline.

He attended in silence, offering a shoulder or a nuzzle to those who needed it. His eyes betrayed the pain inside - rueful, sad, weary, supportive - but he did not speak of his old friend, himself, just was there for the others.