In reply to Millicent Gerthrim (msg # 79):

"You'll know." Nelek saw Shawn and Brighid. "Are you looking for Difyr? She's next door with Aislyn."

"Thank you Nelek." Brie smiled at him. "You are looking much better today."

Millie was pretty certain she wouldn't. She had given up hope of being happy at the same time she had given up hope on finding love.

"I'm feeling a lot better." Nelek said, then his face grew serious. "I'm sorry for your family's loss."

"Thank you," Brie replied, growing teary eyed. "I heard Kady had been found?"

Nelek nodded, teary eyed himself thinking about his lost children and the lost years he would never get back. "She's with her mother."

"Good, I'm very pleased she was found. I am truly sorry for your family's losses as well."

Nelek nodded and put an arm around Millie's shoulders.

Millie cuddled against him. She knew her parents were in no hurry to be grandparents, but if she'd been wed, at least there would have been a chance for her to bring laughing children back in to their lives.

Nelek turned back towards the room.

Millie walked beside him, letting Brie go first.

Difyr brought Brighid into the room.

"Pinja, I have some good news." Difyr said.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:59, Mon 10 July 2017.

Pinja sat up, clutching her blanket so it hid most of her face. She peered at Brighid from under her cap and felt sick guilt roll over her. Brighid's children were dead because her husband had tried to help her.

Brie gave her a gentle smile, but waited to let Difyr give Pinja the news. Brie's heart ached for Pinja, she knew a small amount of what she had gone through just from her time with Jeremy. The rest, she just couldn't imagine.

"Mrs Spenser and her husband have agreed to take the babe." Difyr said.

Pinja was surprised, Mrs Spenser was the last person she'd expect to want anything to do with the baby... An unpleasant idea occurred to her. She studied Brighid, looking very small and more like a scared child.

"You won't... You won't hurt it?"

Brie was horrified that Pinja would think such a thing. "No, Pinja. We would love the child as much as we have loved all of our children. Haroth, Sileas and Sarah were all adopted and were cherished by us," she assured the girl (she hoped).

"I'm sorry... I..." Pinja seemed to shrink.

Brie took the barest of steps closer. "You have nothing to apologize for, Pinja."

"Everything that happened was my fault." Pinja said. "You're trying to help me and I... I'm sorry."

Brighid sighed ever softly. "Pinja, I understand why you feel it is your fault. I blamed myself for everything by first Beau did, including when he killed my older brother. But you did not make those choices for your husband, he did. His actions are his own and his alone. You did not order him to be evil, or to abuse you. You did not order him to attack the village. By taking the blame on yourself, you are still allowing him control over you. In order for you to begin healing, you have to reassign that blame where it belongs. On Jack."

Only Pinja's eyes showed from between her cap and blanket.

"I could have stopped it. Done something differently." Pinja said.

Brie shook her head. "That's a lie they feed the women they abuse. He would have found any other reason in the world to harm you."

"I should have kept fighting him." Pinja said. "Fought him until he let me go or killed me."

Brie shook her head. "You can't heal if you keep shouldering the blame. For your own sake, Pinja, I implore you. Let it go, and place the blame where it belongs. On Jack's shoulders."