[The silence which she knows she ought fill with words, with explanations, stretches on, heavy on her shoulders and her mind. A loss. Yes, it is a loss. To her, it is a death in all but corpse, because his world is not her own, and surely... surely they would never meet again. There were very few people in ALASTAIR she had cared even an iota for... and now, one is gone. One sits in front of her.
And she finds herself afraid. And-]
I-
[And lonely, so lonely aboard this ship in the deep black, surrounded by technology that confounds her and people who confuse her, and her fingers curl anxiously, impotently into the thin white robe she had worn to visit him, something that might imply something to her culture and perhaps not to his, she's never sure, and-]
I do not wish to be alone.
[It comes out a shameful whisper, afraid to see lost respect in his gaze, for so weak a thing so plainly said.]
no subject
And she finds herself afraid. And-]
I-
[And lonely, so lonely aboard this ship in the deep black, surrounded by technology that confounds her and people who confuse her, and her fingers curl anxiously, impotently into the thin white robe she had worn to visit him, something that might imply something to her culture and perhaps not to his, she's never sure, and-]
I do not wish to be alone.
[It comes out a shameful whisper, afraid to see lost respect in his gaze, for so weak a thing so plainly said.]
... I cannot.