[center][color=baa7c7][h2]Lienna Orhneaht[/h2][sub]Interacting with: Amalia Solair [@Belle][/sub][/color][/center]
Lienna woke with a start when a guard jolted her awake with his banging, no less surprising than it had been the day before. However, after the pounding of her heart subsided, Lienna was actually grateful for the awakening. It wasn't [i]quite[/i] like waking from a nightmare, but a similar sense of relief washed over her when she realized that the things she'd been dreaming about - blasphemous words, vile, horned infants clawing their way out of her abdomen - she was almost happy to be met with harmless cold air and stone walls.

She shuffled to breakfast as usual, making a point to move with purpose despite the maddeningly slow pace these terrified girls insisted on taking. After all, a spring may flow along the path of least resistance, but it did so of its own accord. 

Much of the exotic Gem foods from before had been replaced by Drakkan foods, Lienna noted, and while she was disappointed (after all, she wasn't thrilled about going back to dried meat after two straight weeks of the stuff) she wasn't nearly as forlorn as some of the other girls appeared to be. She supposed she could understand; for many of these girls, the colourful foods of Gemmenia were probably a precious remnant of home. As for Lienna, meats were as ordinary as it could get. 

Soon after she sat down, as she looked over the table in search of choice morsels, the girl she'd spoken to the day before sat across from her, looking pained. Lienna could guess why - she'd seen the treatment she'd gotten after standing yesterday - but it piqued her interest nonetheless. Was it only the pain in her feet that was bothering her, or something else?

To Lienna's surprise, Amalia apologized profusely for her attitude the day before - something Lienna hadn't even given a second thought. Of course she'd been preoccupied! The poor girl had her heels seared and was forced to stand all day. And it wasn't as if Lienna had gone to great lengths to reach out to her. And yet, she apologized. It was a deed so odd to Lienna's ears she almost didn't know what to say.

[color=baa7c7]"Don't you dare apologize,"[/color] she replied, perhaps a little coldly, [color=baa7c7]"Your first priority should be yourself now, tending to your own needs and seeing to it that you survive this ordeal with as little strife as possible. Don't you be casting yourself aside to worry about me."[/color]

Despite her tone, Lienna held no ill will toward Amalia. In fact, she found her empathy to be admirable, if a little misplaced. Perhaps she just had the tendency to come off a little harsh. 

Amalia wasted no time changing the subject. It was as if she were as uncomfortable with apologies as Lienna was.

"Have you... ever eaten this?" Amalia asked, "My home was by the sea. We ate fish and vegetables and sometimes fruit. I have never had meat before," she explained, poking at it with her fork. "Will this make me ill?"

Lienna had to fight down the urge to furrow her brow in confusion. This girl had [i]never[/i] eaten meat before? In her life? She almost laughed out loud. Meat was almost all there was in the North, aside from the occasional fish and the valuable herbs which could be wrenched from the frozen forests. 

She couldn't help but smile, and picked a few strips of dried meat from a nearby platter, as well as some much fresher, steaming cuts of what looked to be some sort of wild dog. She heaped most of the fresh meat onto her own plate, glancing longingly at the juices that quickly flooded it, and handed a strip of dried meat to her friend. 

[color=baa7c7]"Unless Drakkan meats are uniquely toxic, I am sure none of this will hurt you."[/color] she gestured with the dried meat, beckoning Amalia to take it. [color=baa7c7]"Here, start with this. It will be easier on your stomach at first."[/color]

Lienna then took a bite of her own food, taking a moment to savour it. Drakkan or not, she had to admit it was good. [color=baa7c7]"In fact,"[/color] she added after swallowing, [color=baa7c7]"You're probably better off eating this than some of the food in Hima. Do you know it's a delicacy to bury seal flanks in the ground all winter and eat them in the spring?"[/color] 

She laughed. [color=baa7c7]"The elders of the Council [i]swore[/i] by it, but I could never get past the rancid fat. Awful stuff."[/color] She screwed up her face for good measure. 

Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately for Amalia), Lienna's best excuse for banter was cut off by an announcement by the head Drakkan of Shadow Worth. Apparently, in their boundless kindness, they were offering the Gems a day in the hot springs. 

Lienna's gut reaction was optimistic; Amalia's was one of fear. 

"What if they lie?" Amalia whispered, "What if this is a veiled cruelty? Lienna," she said, reaching across to take the other woman's hand. "I am afraid. I do not want to be. I want to be strong as I was trained to be. My whole life my parents were preparing me for this, for the time I would be taken by the Drakken. But now that is has actually happened... I am so afraid."

Lienna couldn't help but be moved by the poor girl's plea. She grasped her hand, placing her other on top of it. She paused, unsure of what she could say to ease Amalia's mind. It took her a moment to come up with an answer. 

[color=baa7c7]"There are things in life which no one and nothing could ever prepare us for,"[/color] she replied finally. [color=baa7c7]"You can't just wish away your fear. I don't know what's to come of this, of any of it, now or in the days to come. All I know is that fighting a riptide will only serve to drown you."[/color]

She locked her eyes on Amalia's, making sure that Amalia met her gaze. [color=baa7c7]"All you can do is take things as they come. Don't fight it. Comply, and in doing so, preserve yourself.[/color]

[color=baa7c7]"You wish to be strong? Some of these girls think they are strong with their acts of defiance, their petty outbursts which only serve to hurt them in the end. No, the [i]strong[/i] choice is to do everything in your power to [i]help[/i] yourself."[/color] Lienna squeezed Amalia's hand. [color=baa7c7]"If you bend, they cannot break you."[/color]

[hider=Summary]Lienna tells Amalia she shouldn't be sorry, explains that the meat won't hurt her and goes into an existential speech about compliance or whatever. Between you and me, I think she forgot the original point to her speech by the time she was done XD[/hider]