Sometimes that was what he needed most. Not someone to offer scolding, or advice, or recriminations, or misplaced reassurance that 'things would be okay.' Just... someone who listened. No judgment. No opinion on what he should have done. Just the quiet support of a friend who was in his corner even when he fucked up.
Ru had been that for him, ever since before the War. And yet... now she was so rarely home at all, so often was she gone to King's End.
Not that the courier was anyone to talk, and he knew it.
But knowing that he was losing another friend the slow, gentle way as she swanned off to her own happily ever after and left him behind didn't make it hurt less.
He didn't even realize that he'd covered Alys's hand on his shoulder until he squeezed it and felt the contact through his own shirt. He managed to dredge up a shadow of a smile along with the shake of his head. A sigh worked its way up his chest and out of his throat before he could stop it... not that he really wanted to. "Pretty sure romance isn't in th'cards for a scruffy delivery boy like me," he said, trying to pretend it was just a joke. Lighten the mood back up. Alys hadn't come here to listen to his depressed whinging, after all! "But thanks, Alys. I 'preciate it. I'm over her now, I just wish I hadn't acted the fool in public. Or, y'know, at all. But I can't change the past so..." He gave a wry shrug, finally releasing her hand so he could reach down and rub Boreal's worried head reassuringly.
Ru had been that for him, ever since before the War. And yet... now she was so rarely home at all, so often was she gone to King's End.
Not that the courier was anyone to talk, and he knew it.
But knowing that he was losing another friend the slow, gentle way as she swanned off to her own happily ever after and left him behind didn't make it hurt less.
He didn't even realize that he'd covered Alys's hand on his shoulder until he squeezed it and felt the contact through his own shirt. He managed to dredge up a shadow of a smile along with the shake of his head. A sigh worked its way up his chest and out of his throat before he could stop it... not that he really wanted to. "Pretty sure romance isn't in th'cards for a scruffy delivery boy like me," he said, trying to pretend it was just a joke. Lighten the mood back up. Alys hadn't come here to listen to his depressed whinging, after all! "But thanks, Alys. I 'preciate it. I'm over her now, I just wish I hadn't acted the fool in public. Or, y'know, at all. But I can't change the past so..." He gave a wry shrug, finally releasing her hand so he could reach down and rub Boreal's worried head reassuringly.
