With Alyeda's eyes off of her, Alvatter addressing Rashim, and much of the direct conversation shifting away from her, the blonde slinked back into the treeline slightly, slipping herself out of sight behind the trees. As Alyeda spoke again, she froze for a moment.
"I apologize; it was too familiar of me. I need to remember we aren't friends."
It felt like an icy stab to her heart. Unseen behind the tree, Rashana's hand came up to stifle over her lower jaw, covering her mouth as painful feelings surged under the burden... Like Alyeda expected her to be perfectly okay with what had happened, that nothing was wrong. Expecting that they would already be friends without any context or... ?
Rashana's breath was tense, and she felt a trembling in her frame as her eyes blinked tears, but her hand kept her muffled and silent, out of view. Etu spoke, elaborating on her own situation, and try as she might, Rashana found it so hard to pull her focus from the internal to what she had to say, at the least, to process it in the moment. It was overwhelming and stressful, and the maker felt her pulse pounding as the moment grew heavier.
Her barely contained tears started flowing, but she muffled herself, keeping silent. She breathed deeply, heavy, slow breaths as her sense of the world tipped off-kilter. She began to move, stepping through the undergrowth, the crunch of leaves muted by divine discretion in service to her anxious impulses, hiding her as she made her retreat a stride at a time.
She didn't know this realm. Where she went, she really didn't care, in the moment. Dizzied and fighting her strain, she made a quick and quiet retreat into the woods, moving away from the gathering along that wall. Once she was a few paces away, she ran instead, ran for several minutes, until she dropped to her knees in the forest.
It was just too much. She was wrong, she shouldn't care. One loss, found again, but another loss, except replaced, and she didn't understand how or why. It wasn't only the moment, but weeks of worry and struggle and strain, obligation and trying and failing to meet it, layers weight her down and it had finally broken her to collapse. Her hands shook, as she brought them up to cover her face and muffle her tears, as she let herself just cry under the pressure.