why are we back here again

Alphinaud couldn't say, even if he wished to. And he wasn't quite certain he did. He bit his lower lip, a nervous habit he'd picked up from Ophinne of all people. Frustrating as it was, it did ease some of his anxieties. He released it, letting out a slow breath and trying to structure his thoughts into words.

"Your being here with us—me. Even at my worst, you were..." he shook his head, bringing his fist to his chin in thought. "Apologies. Pray allow me to start from the beginning. I've never been much for speaking on my feelings, and they're a touch confused at present."

She puffed out a breath, an almost laugh, then scrunched up her brow in thought. "I'm no master of mine, either. I took up the axe because I was angry," she confessed. "Angry at Gridania, at myself, at everything."

"Given how I treated you then, I consider myself lucky to have not incurred too much of your wrath. So then... why follow me? What did I have to offer that so enticed you?"

"I followed you because I was lonely."

"Hard to imagine someone so beloved as lonely."

"You're one to talk. Pray tell, who was the first person in your life you dared to earnestly call a friend? Was it me?"

He flushed, though in the orange glow of the flames, 'twas hard to tell. A blessing, though his fluster slipped through in his voice. "I wouldn't have called that lonely. I was much too self-assured to be lonely."

"Your head was much too big for your body then."

"I can't say I'm proud of it now, what my arrogance wrought is something I can never..."

"Don't start," she put her hand over his, and he suddenly didn't have any more words to say. All else disappeared, the warmth of her hand almost scalding, even with the flames licking at their faces. "You don't have to. Your mistakes aren't all that you'll ever be. You've grown. You've learned. You can leave that Alphinaud behind, you don't need him anymore."

"Ophinne."