Darin supposed that Ridahne had a point. It was the visions alone that had allowed people to know who and what she was. Not everyone in Astra got visions and even the ones that did weren’t promised to receive them. It was more of a hit and miss type thing. Darin supposed she might be overreacting or worrying for no good reasons. Then again it seemed like the Red Hand had people all across Astra. It was very possible that even humans, who were admittedly the most mundane of the Children of Astra, that knew already and were just waiting for her to come back to human lands. It was yet another dilemma or problem that Darin had that she had no real answer to.

The human let the warrior lead her back towards the inn and back towards bed. Ridahne seemed ready to return to rest, and so was Darin. Then Darin heard with the Azurei had to say right as she fell asleep. Darin stared at the sleeping figure with wide eyes. That couldn’t be right. She had to have heard wrong or Ridahne must not have known what she was saying. That was a possibility. The Elf had only said it as she was falling asleep. Darin was exhausted. Ridahne had just misspoke or Darin had just misheard. That was the only explanation. There was no way that Ridahne was [i]proud[/i] of her. Right?

Darin sat down on the bed as she stared at her sleeping companion. Darin desperately racked her brain for the last time someone said they were proud of her. Was it Ravi back at The Farm? Darin couldn’t remember. Maybe it had been The Tree. That seemed more likely. Except the human couldn’t remember either of them saying it; just that she was glorious, amazing, beautiful, incredible. Was that the same thing? When was the last time her mother had said it? She hadn’t, had she? Darin could not recall a single instant of Talia claiming to be proud of her. The elders certainly never did and if Martin ever did Darin did her best to block those memories from her mind. Talia must have said it at least, once right? Maybe when Darin had first gotten The Seed? Darin wasn’t sure. She couldn’t remember anyone every claiming to be proud of her. She was the disappointment, the daughter of the runaway, the daughter of the lost, the foolish girl who thought to work a farm by herself and not get married, the village disappointment. How could anyone be proud of her? How could anyone think she could do anything right?

Suddenly the room was too warm, too close, too small. As quietly as she could Darin exited the room and somehow stumbled downstairs. The tavern portion of the inn was finally empty as the forest returned to some semblance of normal. There was no one to watch her as she stumbled outside. The trees rustled in worry, but Darin did her best to reassure them that she just needed some air. They ceased to rustle but their worry was still felt in the air. Without knowing where she was going Darin picked a direction and began to walk. She knew she would get lost. She knew she would probably trip at least once. She didn’t care. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t process. She misheard, there was no reason, none whatsoever, for anyone, especially Ridahne, to be proud of her.

Somehow, though a mix of luck and guess, she arrived at the stable where Tsura and Talbot were. There was no door so there was no need to break in. Talbot sense that she entered the building immediately and looked up in distress with a whinny to let his person know where he was. Darin stumbled over to him and threw her arms around his neck. It wasn’t long before she started to cry. She couldn’t do this. She was trying, but there were so many questions that she was supposed to have answers to that she just didn’t. She was supposed to be good, but she barely qualified as not bad. How desperate was she to pretend that she was a good person that she was making up things that no one would ever say about her? Why did it even matter? She had never cared about having anyone’s, not even her family’s, approval before. So, why did she so desperately want Ridahne’s? Finally, all the stress from the day’s events caught up to Darin and she fell sleep next to Talbot. The horse did not seem to mind.