"I learned early on that I couldn't always rely on someone else to protect me," Sera explained to Elena and gestured around the battered house.
"I lived alone. I'm unmarried, and I don't have a place at my mother's and her new husband's."
"When you're alone long enough, you either learn to protect yourself---"
"...or you don't survive."
She smiled faintly, hoping she didn't sound too depressing.
"Clearly, I chose the path of an independent, unmarriageable old wench who is barely sufferable in high society."
She joked.
"Really! I should be thanking the gods that Lord Virex accepted my proposal, or I'd die an old maid."
Elena laughed despite herself.
"But--- I thought…" she stammered, looking heartbroken and shook her head. "I thought Leo always protected you!"
Sera confirmed.
"He did--- when he could..."
She smiled warmly as she would never deny him that.
"But in the end we lived apart and had different lives. And he couldn't be everywhere."
