weathering_it with Runa

[volurofthehearth]

It's been a long, long Winter. If only it were anywhere near the end. No, it's already getting colder, windier, wilder. 

So far Runa has kept up with Isidor's regime of constant toil and pressure. That woman is a diamond, made by an unquenchable inner fire and immense stress. Runa is not. There is only so much she can do before she feels the absence of her sisters and father. It's a cliché, but surrounded by people, she feels most alone. She just wants one moment, one quiet moment to share with a friend.

Which is why, on the calmest of days so far, she takes the calm as an opportunity to go outside and hunt for at least part of what she yearns for. Viatorus is bound strictly to a small area, but she's free. With him safely by Isidor's side, she can walk the snowy streets and wander to where she knows friends are. She knocks on the door and takes a step back. Thankfully she knows how to dress for the snow. Her thick yellow coat, green hat and tall, thick boots keep her warm while she waits.

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[weathering_it]

By now the Weatherhills aren't the only ones taking refuge in this particular building, but they are by far the most numerous group. It's only sensible probability that it's one of them to greet her.

Today, it's Anna. A suspicious Anna squinting through a little crack in the door before she recognize the face on the other side and hurriedly throws it open.

"Runa!" she says, her voice raspy and tired despite her excitement. "Didn't expect to see you today. I guess you're looking for my brother?"

[volurofthehearth]

When she sees it's Anna peeking through the crack she immediately brightens. The other woman looks well, considering all they're going through.

"I'm not sure," she admits sheepishly. "I want to go to the edge of the boundaries, and I thought it might be nice to have some company." She offers a somewhat guilty smile. "A walk with a friend would do me so much good."

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Anna sighs in relief and, glancing behind her, gives a breathy little laugh. "I'd love to get out of this place. I feel like a hen in a coop. And..."

She looks at something to the side of the door and just out of sight of Runa.

"You don't mind me bringing our gun, do you? I've been practicing with it, and I'd like to have it along in case something goes wrong."

[volurofthehearth]

Anna may be hesitant to ask, but Runa beams. "Of course! You can be my protector."

Once the two of them are on the path, boots softly crunching on the snow, she's happy to fill in the silence. She can ramble all the way to the torches if Anna lets her. "My father has a rifle as well. He taught some of my sisters to shoot, and my eldest sister tried to teach me. I was awful. It's too heavy for me, and the noise always startles me."

[weathering_it]

Anna smiles for Runa and admits, "I haven't actually heard it go off in a while. We only have so many shells, and I can't waste them on lessons. P--"

She presses her lips together, then quickly returns to smiling for her friend.

"My brother's been teaching me. He was a rifleman, you know? When he was still alive? That's what he said he did when he joined the Stormwind army. Come to think of it, I've never seen him shoot a gun. Not since he's been back, at least. Of course we hunted when I grew up, even if he never did like killing little animals."

Anna looks Runa up and down with a faint smile and asks, "Why'd you learn to shoot? You're all mages, right? And you live comfortable lives, to boot. Did you hunt? Are you outdoorsy?" Gently she elbows her friend while she waits for the story.

[volurofthehearth]

'P'? P who? Which brother, she's about to ask, but then Anna continues on and her unasked question turns into an oh...

Did she know he was a rifleman? She can't quite remember. Whenever she's spoken to Harrowheart it's always been about other things. Home, mostly, and family. Which brings to mind some more troubling thoughts.

Her heavy brow is banished with Anna's teasing, and she nudges right back. "More outdoorsy than Viatorus!" A laugh escapes her and it takes a second to calm herself. "But no, I didn't hunt. Some of my sisters did, with my father. We live in the countryside in big house surrounded by trees and mountains and lakes. We all spent a lot of time outdoors."

"Weather like this is homely in a strange sort of way." Her smile turns bittersweet as she looks around at the snow, but pulls wide at Anna again. "What about you? Why are you learning? To hunt better?"

[weathering_it]

"Homey!" Anna barks a laugh and shakes her head vehemently. "I can't imagine that! The Nexus is the first place I ever did see snow. Never was cold enough or rainy enough in Westfall for it."

Shaking her head with a little less intensity she continues, "No, it's all of this that's got me learning. This... Reynard... Something that happened last year."

She quickly swipes at her mouth with one gloved hand. It wouldn't do for Runa to see her looking emotional. Mindfulness. That's what Dr. Hill says it's called. Recognizing negative emotions and overcoming them in the moment.

[volurofthehearth]

"Cold and dark is most of the Winter in Sweden," she explains with a laugh. It's hard not to join in with Anna's amusement. Which is why she immediately hesitates at what the other woman has to say next.

"Something happened?" Runa watches Anna's nervous gestures for a moment before looking away at the snow ahead of them. The further out they go the fewer footprints mark the white ground. "Did it involve Harrowheart too?"

[weathering_it]

Anna's reply is immediate. "Yes."

And then there's a pause.

"I could tell you what happened if you want to know, but you might hold it against him. Before all of this started I might have wished you would, but now... Runa, I don't know. I want to be on good terms with him. I'm tired of resenting him. I've resented him for ten years. I'm done with it. But... There are certain things he's done that I just can't let go."

[volurofthehearth]

That's quite something to hear. There is such a thing as knowing too much, and so difficult to tell beforehand whether it's worth knowing. She lets the silence sit for a moment before replying.

"Well... If you want to talk about it." She smiles softly at Anna. "I'd be happy to listen. Sometimes it helps to share your troubles."

[weathering_it]

For a time the only sound between them is the crisp snow beneath their boots.

Finally she says, "He hit me. And then..." She huffs, and a self-conscious laugh comes out as a puff of warm breath. "I've thought about it so much that I don't think I can even remember it all straight. But I remember that he hit me. He knocked me down and he shook me."

She watches where she's walking and takes a moment to focus on her breathing as she recalls what she can.

"I remember he had a horrible look in his eyes. Empty. Like if I asked him to stop, he wouldn't have listened. But I couldn't ask him to stop, because –"

Just thinking about that bastard's name makes her grip her gun a little tighter.

"Reynard –" she forces, and even then can't help looking around. She only hopes that uttering his name doesn't summon him. Who's to say he doesn't have that power? After all, he's got power enough to appear in her mind a thousand times since that day.

"... Had me under a spell. He took over my mind and made me say things that I..."

She watches Runa as they walk, and her features sink into guilt. "That I told a lot of people I'd never say under any other circumstances. But that was a lie. I said things to him that I knew would hurt him, and I said them meaner than I'd ever said them before."

Anna adjusts her hat, tugs it down over her ears again, distracts herself for a moment before she looks back at Runa searchingly. "Have you ever asked yourself why he is what he is?"

[volurofthehearth]

Of all the things for Anna to say, that was not what Runa had expected. Simply hearing that Harrowheart had hit her draws a sudden, shocked gasp from her, and although she turns to Anna with wide eyes, she knows the young woman is telling the truth. The more she talks, the worse it gets.

By now she's heard of the Winter spirit. Not much. Not enough to think he would be the type of creature to bewitch someone she knew and... It's terrible. Simply terrible!

This awful news has her mind in a whirlwind. Anna's question almost doesn't register. The Swede blinks and looks away, trying to think. "O-Oh... um... No... Not really. He was a soldier. I just assumed it was something to do with that."

[weathering_it]

Now look what she's gone and done. Runa asked for the truth, and Anna ignorantly started giving it. She winces guiltily for a moment before she looks away.

"He didn't become a monster by accident. That's all you need to know."

Turning to Runa once more the rest comes out in a rushing sigh. "I want to love him again, but I can't get over it." She shakes her head. "That's why I said the things I said. And now I want to apologize for it, but if I do, it makes what he did okay. I don't know how to get around it. I can't figure out how to make him family again."

"If that's even possible."

[volurofthehearth]

Didn't become a monster by accident. A monster. Runa's gaze falls worriedly to the snow. He is a monster, isn't he? She's always known that. It was hard to be ok with it at first, but he made it so easy for her to forget. Now she has to remember again, she supposes...

Anna's words drag her eyes back to the other woman. It's true that she doesn't know Harrowheart or Anna as well as she ought to, and that she doesn't understand all that they've been through. But she does know family.

"You should talk to him," she says softly. Her gloved fingers twist in front of her. "Tell him what you've told me. Say that you're sorry for what you said, and for the hurt they caused. Say that what he's done still hurts, and you're not okay with it, but that you don't want to hurt him. With family... With love... All we can do is lay out all our cards on the table, and trust that we can work through things."

[weathering_it]

Anna listens with a furrowed brow, until Runa's words eventually turn her focus into worry and uncertainty. Could it be that easy? Could she say those things? Can she love someone without forgiving their failures?

She tries to smile but it doesn't feel real. Somehow, recognizing the way she's forcing it makes it a little more genuine.

"You're really wise, Runa. You know that?"

Having said that she laughs to herself and nods to the snow before them. "I'll try to take your advice, if I can remember it when the time comes. Until then? I'm trying harder these days to be positive. Why don't we talk about something nicer?"

[volurofthehearth]

It's not easy. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, after all. That's the saying. For this, at least, it's true. Runa doesn't need to be an empath to know how raw Anna's emotions must be. Family is unfortunately talented at causing the deepest wounds.

Anna's smile and compliment gets a laugh from Runa, and she nudges the other woman's arm lightly. "You know what it's like with so many siblings. You have to learn how to sound smarter than them. Even if you're not."

Looping her arm through Anna's, she beams again. "What do you do for fun?"

[weathering_it]

Runa's little joke warms Anna's cheeks with a broad smile and lights up her eyes with restrained laughter. She knows just how to turn the mood around, doesn't she? It makes it easier for Anna to seize onto the hook of casual conversation.

"I read! I've always loved to read. To myself, to other people... I used to read to my brother all the time, since he was never very quick with it. I couldn't be an adventurer myself, so I got my excitement between the pages of books." She laughs self-consciously and shrugs a shoulder. "Not very exciting, I know, but neither was growing up on a farm."

She nods her head vaguely toward the more populated area of the Nexus and says, "Since I've gotten here, I found this place called an arcade full of little games. Have you heard of pinball? Skeeball? There's one game where a little yellow Beholder has to eat fruit before he gets exorcised by rainbow ghosts... And my favorite, which I'm getting really good at, has you play as a little man who jumps up a building to save a princess from an ape."

Anna turns her bright smile to Runa and asks, "How about you?"