🔹️THORNE
​She stepped out of the bathroom and I tried not to stare too much, or sniff when my soap wafted through the air.
​Umbra's tail wagged, my heart racing. Keeping an outwardly calm expression was torturous. Yet, I pulled through as she dressed for sleep.
​We had gone to see Thal after training was completed, with me having to stay behind to speak to him about the state of things.
​He had been disappointed to learn that Althea was going to come, but the partial mending of our relationship had cushioned the blow.
​And again he left me with another one of his life nuggets of advice about how to further close the gap between us.
​"Talk."
​That was all he had said. At first, when he had told me, I had seen it as a task simple enough, but I realized pretty quickly that we had never truly spoken.
​Communicated.
​About our day, about our fears, and the things that haunt us without it being wrapped in an outburst that raised tensions faster than understanding.
