A muscle twitches in Araceli's jaw that might be a smile. These days it's all bearing her teeth, staring down dreadnoughts or whatever other ships come haunting her as she runs around with a queen's name. Did she pick that for more than courage? She was feverish when she chose it, more homesick than she'd ever been in all her life but the same way there are a hundred things in the sea with barbs and spines and bright colours that say 'touch me and beware' then maybe she was making an attempt even in those first days.
"When did I say a true alliance?" She mutters irritably herself, folding her arms then immediately unfolding them because after all this time she can't make that comfortable not even after all this time when she isn't having to face other people. It annoys her. That she hasn't threshed away the softness yet, that parts of her are still stubbornly clinging to a holdfast. "There were ways we might have drawn it up a long time ago, maybe before any of this happened in the first place, when we still had people who could think but this world is always so trapped within itself, it always has to fight the same battle a hundred times, a thousand times. I know how politics is-- was done. Back when there was anyone alive to see to it. They saw an opportunity and they took it, a fat galleon listing ripe for the plunder because there is nothing left. People have always run from the Qun, you wouldn't be here if they didn't, so people will run again if a day comes when there's something worth running to." Araceli's voice doesn't rise exactly but it turns sharper in a way she can't control, the words tumbling out of her mouth faster and faster until there's no taking them back and she knows why. (Still, she gets reports. If there's a thing worse than a Blight, this is undoubtedly it.)
She knows. Korrin might be too hurt, too angry to see it, and nobody would blame her, Araceli least of all, but she damn well knows somewhere deep down what she's doing.
Turning, she looks out the small window to the deck because to close the curtains is such a risk with privacy a luxury she cast away. She can offer Korrin a softer voice this time when she doesn't have to look directly at her since it means she can keep her voice steady, unsure if she would be able to trust it. It's dark enough now that she can see her own face that she hardly recognises anymore and once this might have worried her, upset her but this iis the cost of doing business. "This is who I am. The girl you loved, well, maybe someone found her hand. I hear they were fetching a good price those days."
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"When did I say a true alliance?" She mutters irritably herself, folding her arms then immediately unfolding them because after all this time she can't make that comfortable not even after all this time when she isn't having to face other people. It annoys her. That she hasn't threshed away the softness yet, that parts of her are still stubbornly clinging to a holdfast. "There were ways we might have drawn it up a long time ago, maybe before any of this happened in the first place, when we still had people who could think but this world is always so trapped within itself, it always has to fight the same battle a hundred times, a thousand times. I know how politics is-- was done. Back when there was anyone alive to see to it. They saw an opportunity and they took it, a fat galleon listing ripe for the plunder because there is nothing left. People have always run from the Qun, you wouldn't be here if they didn't, so people will run again if a day comes when there's something worth running to." Araceli's voice doesn't rise exactly but it turns sharper in a way she can't control, the words tumbling out of her mouth faster and faster until there's no taking them back and she knows why. (Still, she gets reports. If there's a thing worse than a Blight, this is undoubtedly it.)
She knows. Korrin might be too hurt, too angry to see it, and nobody would blame her, Araceli least of all, but she damn well knows somewhere deep down what she's doing.
Turning, she looks out the small window to the deck because to close the curtains is such a risk with privacy a luxury she cast away. She can offer Korrin a softer voice this time when she doesn't have to look directly at her since it means she can keep her voice steady, unsure if she would be able to trust it. It's dark enough now that she can see her own face that she hardly recognises anymore and once this might have worried her, upset her but this iis the cost of doing business. "This is who I am. The girl you loved, well, maybe someone found her hand. I hear they were fetching a good price those days."