Arc 721, 30 Ymiden
Sitting on the beach, Elisabeth watched the waves. Doing that allowed her to find a certain sort of peace - something that had eluded her of late. Sleep was also difficult to manage, although now, different nightmares stalked her.
Since arriving back to Faldrass after the events of the previous season, she had dealt with memory loss, Balthazar’s death and resurrection, her promotion to settlement lead, Balthazar’s return to the Elements and all manner of other various things. If felt very much like the moment she was on the verge of dealing with one thing, another would pop up, and no time to reconcile anything to completion.
The young woman couldn’t seem to find the time to put the settlement aside and deal with her issues. There was always something to do and she felt selfish if she wasn’t putting all her effort into helping Haven be what she knew it could. The past thirty trials had all been about Haven for her - building relationship and trust. It wasn't as though she hadn't been trusted before Kura's decision, but being part of a settlement as opposed to leading it were two completely different matters.
Sighing softly, her eyes followed the water, taking a few moments out of her trial to simply let her mind rest and go where it would. And where it went, was to Balthazar. She missed him.
Yes, they communicated by echo scroll. Yes, he came home when he could, but that didn’t help the fact that she missed him when he wasn’t there. The feeling was a persistent, nagging in the back of her heart, knowing a piece of her was missing. Also present was knowing that things could be so much worse, so in essence, it gave her hope that they were both doing what was needed of them at the time. And hopefully, eventually, they would get some time just for them.
"Meow?" Ever present, was Storm. The kitten, her constant companion, eyed her from his nest in the warm sand next to her. Oddly enough, the animal seemed, to her, to stick closer than normal when Balthazar was away, although she wasn't sure if that was really the case or just that she tended to notice him more during those times.
Reaching over, Elisabeth gently scratched his head, letting her mind wander and enjoying the company.