🌻🪬

The two of them arrived home and sat down on the living room couch.

"Skylaine, I really don't want you to do this..." Telamon began. His thoughts were racing, and for someone usually so rational, he was focused entirely on the emotional aspect now. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze: "Please... you just have to trust me on this..."

Skylaine took a deep breath and let out an annoyed sigh, though she didn't pull her hand away: "You can't just tell me to trust you. Why don't you want me to go?" she asked, her voice sounding irritated — as if she were completely misinterpreting his request.

Telamon: "I... I don't want to talk about it..."

Skylaine: "But how am I supposed to understand your point of view, then? What is so terrible about me simply wanting to revisit my old life?"

Telamon: "It won't be good for you emotionally, believe me. I know how vulnerable you can be. It’ll tear you apart."

Skylaine was getting fed up with his superficial reasoning: "You just want to isolate me, don't you?" she said sharply, crossing her arms.

Telamon had to let go of her hand and pull back slightly to process her misunderstanding, his eyes wide: "Little sister, I would never-"

"Are my emotions really that unimportant to you?! I thought you’d changed!" Skylaine interrupted, her expression twisting further. One might think she was always this angry.

Telamon: "Unimportant? Quite the opposite, I’m telling you this precisely Because your feelings matter so much to me."

Skylaine: "Oh, come on — you’re just messing with me. I’m going to visit them tomorrow, whether you like it or not."

With that, she stormed into her room and slammed the door half-loudly.

Telamon was left alone with his thoughts after the conversation, hurt by her words.

He simply couldn't explain it to her without hurting her, he had just hoped she would trust him, but that had backfired.

Neither of them managed to get a wink of sleep that night — Telamon because he was worried, and Skylaine because she was too excited about seeing her family and friends again.

Morning broke, Telamon was already sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast with a bitter air about him.

"Good morning..." he said quietly as Skylaine came downstairs, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him after the previous night and simply walked out the door without saying a word.

She set off on her journey back to the surface.