Kane's storytelling, the warmth of the fireplace, the voices of her family... all these familiar things wrapped around her like a soft blanket.
The cold, chaotic, suffocating world outside was, for this moment, temporarily shut away.
She wouldn't speak of the burning mills, wouldn't mention the empty gazes, wouldn't describe the figures stumbling into the unknown wilderness in the cold wind.
Those were burdens from another world, and they shouldn't weigh down this warm living room on a festive night.
Tonight was just a night for a family reunion.
A little late, but a reunion nonetheless.
"Eleanor," Murphy suddenly said, his voice remarkably clear over the crackling of the fireplace. "Rest early if you're tired. Some roads, when traveled for a long time, require you to stop and look back at where you came from, so you don't lose your way."
Eleanor looked up, meeting her father's calm gaze.
"I understand, Father," she said softly.
