[Ren's reply is slow.

The first time she reads it her eyes glaze over halfway through and she gets distracted. Not because she isn't interested but because it's a lot to read and Ren has never been a good reader.

But, something in her makes her sit and read it. It's no small feat. Ren has never finished reading a book in her life before she got distracted and wandered off to something more exciting. And Lexa's story wrenches at her heart. It's a song she's heard many a time; a tale that never fails to set her heart into misery.

So many stories and tales of the Fianna come with the warnings of what comes when you fall away from your duty and fall to the dangers of blind passion. But, family, kin, mates, they are the glue that hold together the kin. The love and adoration of them all that makes it worthwhile to fight against the Wyrm.]

im not

i don't

im not trying to

[The words start and stutter out each time she tries to come up with a response to Lexa's story that doesn't seem like she's pitying her or glorifying her pain. Ren is no wordsmith.]

do you really think duty can be set aside. even here?