Rowan's presence was more comforting to Ariel than she cared to admit. The moments that had passed from the shoot to the transport, her daughter huddled in their small coats as they walked away from the only home they had ever truly known. Ariel wanted to break, she wanted to cry but everything she had been taught, and all her instincts otherwise screamed for her not to. She wore an enigmatic expression from the house to the transport and held it for as long as she could.
The small tremble in her voice betrayed Ariel even as she cleared her throat. The further and farther away from Revyia they were the more Ariel felt her shoulders relax. She squeezed her eyes shut, and it was only when she opened them that she held her trembling hand. "Didn't even notice that I was shaking," remarked Ariel with a light tone, even if the twinge of pain settled in the back of her voice. Rowan had asked if she was okay, and normally - the half-Galidraani woman would have done what the women normally did with their feelings. Hide them away, push them as far as they would go, and pretend they didn't exist. Ariel turned and looked Rowan square in the eyes and answered honestly, "not in the slightest."
The tears that danced in her eyes threatened to fall, "kriff." She cursed turning away from Rowan, "sorry." An apology, Ariel wasn't used to expressing her feelings in front of people. Well, people who weren't close to her, Rowan was - Rowan, they had met in what started out as a simple correspondence and unraveled into discrete meetings for drinks and caf here and there. Silence filled the transport otherwise and Ariel was grateful for it, the silence allowed her to process - just some of what had transpired.
She had prepared her daughters the best she could, something she and Rowan held concern for. How the girls were going to handle seeing their father, and for Ivalyn... Djorn was her hero. Everything she did, she did it with him in mind, she didn't want to believe what her mother was trying to explain. Ivalyn's silence afterward was more than alarming for Ariel. Once they had arrived at the undisclosed location that would serve as a halfway point and safehouse for her and the girls.
Ariel answered Rowan, "yes."
A short answer, the reply itself said more than the answer.
"Thank you," arrived the soft and grateful reply from the tired Imperial. She ushered her daughters into the guest room, and helped them to unpack their tiny little bags. The house they had left behind was set to burn, no doubt Djorn would have gone through it looking for anything to use - all he would find was heartbreak and the hauntings of a life he could have had. He instead chose the cold iron of the Empire over the warmth of heart and home. Zola and Ivalyn settled into the bed, and Ariel arranged the stuffed animal toys into the bed with them.
She sat at the edge of the bed, and looked over at her oldest.
Ivalyn looked over to her mother, a mixture of emotions crossed on her face, but finally spoke, "I hate him."
"Ivy."
"I don't want Ivy."
"Okay," she obliged, "okay, we can talk about a new you in the morning." She didn't want to argue or go into the lengths of a discussion about what this all meant to her six-year-old when she herself was still processing everything.
Ivalyn nodded firmly, Ariel leaned over to kiss her daughter goodnight. Ivalyn's small arm wrapped around her neck and held her tight. Ariel shut her eyes and rested her forehead against Ivalyn's. "You are so brave and so tough, but even my brave little princess needs to sleep."
The little girl let go, and Ariel looked over at sweet Zola who was already gone into the land of dreams. A reassuring kiss to the forehead and a pull of the blanket to tuck Zola in. Ariel rose up from the bed and walked toward the door and left it ajar so light could pour into the room.
True to her word, the Atrisian had readied tea, "thank you again, Rowan. I'm not sure we could have gotten out of there otherwise."
