[P] Our irreparable yesterdays

[Asterion]

Asterion in sunshine and in shadow*   He listens to the brief litany of tribulations with a grim set to his expression. Even the colored-glass light that falls across the floor in all the shades of dusk seems muted, and it is strange not to hear rain pattering against the window, to not hear wind blowing its breath against the stone. “And I thought you and Calliope might find Novus too dull,” he says, and though he wears a smile now it is tight-lipped and absent of humor. When the red man reiterates the invitation to the festival, Asterion only nods, his gaze still fast upon the older stallion. His thoughts are low and muddled, much like the floodwaters outside; there is so much still before them all, so much still to change. Of course he can’t know it. The king feels only relief when Raymond turns toward the doorway - relief and a slow dark sadness that is becoming too familiar. When the warrior-turned-Regent mentions his sister’s name, Asterion’s first instinct is to say nothing. But indifference comes as unnaturally to him as cruelty, and after a few heartbeats’ pause he speaks. “She’s in the hospital,” he says, and the words echo and roll the cold stone floor .“In a room near the heart of the complex. If you wish to see her.” He does not add she may not remember you at all; he does not say anything more. Asterion only wishes he could follow Raymond out the door, and away, away, away. @Raymond -confidently one-ups- gonna close here frand