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Rhian peeked around Ellandra's shoulders at Ziazan, and nodded to her sibling without breaking up her humming, an answer to its unvoiced question. Ellandra simply continued to shudder, leaning into Ziazan's touch a little as something deep inside of her heart began keening wordlessly. "I - I thought. . . . I thought. . . ."

Ellandra shuddered again, a little, and didn't dare to remove her face from her hands long enough to even glance at Ziazan. She wuld have a hard time explaining herself now that pressure was put upon her, especially while she was so out-of-sorts from the blow she'd just been dealt. . . . but - but she had to say them... she'd hurt Ziazan as much as she'd hurt Faolan, she knew now, all without really intending to."I - I . . . th-thought we'd. . . .. b-both be. . . . b-better, in - in th-the long run. . . . th-that things - w-weren't. . . . w-werent going . . . . well. . ." She paused, shuddering again as she processed the thought of a Faolan who was so broken he needed Keagan to basically keep him alive. "I - I th-thought I was. . . . making a - a bad. . . sit-situation worse. . . th-that I was. . . burdening. . . . .that. . . b-by leaving. . .. h-he'd be. . . . . . . . be free. . . . ."

"No," Ellandra whispered rather brokenly. "I - I didn't. . . . . didn't know. . ." Her hands finally fell away from her face, dripping wet with tears that still flowed from the brunette's eyes - tears that had started flowing a short time ago. However, she dropped her face into them again at Ziazan's next statement, another shudder ripping through her frame."I - I can't. . . .I can't even i-imagine. . . ." Rhian's humming was nearing a fever-pitch now, the little flutterby starting to look a bit run-ragged herself.

Rhian shook her head, her eyes nearly glowing with determination as she strove to piece Ellandra back together as much as she could. Ziazan's visit had pretty much undone the semi-peace the brunette had managed to achieve, and his current words were only making it far worse. The flutterby was just a little annoyed at Ziazan for that, and thus was absolutely not going to listen.

Ellandra shattered a little more at Ziazan's words, intentionally hurtful or not, and her hands fell from her face again as she turned her now somewhat-dead gaze upon the Alter, speaking in a voice that was deceptively calm, especially in contrast to Rhian's fevered humming. "What would you have me do, Ziazan? I'm not able to walk back to Farstep, it's simply too far."

Ellandra's gaze remained locked upon Ziazan, appearing almst soulless as she simply stared at him for a long moment. "I still love him, Ziazan," she said in that same, calm tone as Rhian's humming died down to complete standstill, the flutterby simply touching Ellandra with her antennae, trying to seek out the problem that was manifesting itself now. "I left because I felt it wasn't working. That we would be better off apart. Clearly that isn't the case. However, I arrived here in a truck belonging to the nusery. I'm not capable of driving, I never learned."

Ellandra nodded, and said nothing for a very long time, during which Rhian decided to speak up. "Yes, let's go pack, Mama. I can ride in a basket again." With Ellandra acting like a robotic shell of herself, for the moment, Rhian was in charge, and she would take care of her Mama. The flutterby looked to Ziazan. "Will you come help us pack? So we can go back sooner?"

Ellandra remained silent, but she rose to her feet and started to head back to her quarters here at the nursery, Rhian waving at Ziazan to follow as she fluttered behind the woman, her humming starting up again and bringing some semblance of humanity back into the woman's gaze. At last they reached the room Ellandra had been staying in, the quarters sparse and her clothing very easily packed away, an open notebook and the portrait of Ellandra's mother sitting upon a desk that had been placed into the room. Rhian paused in her humming a moment to point to a set of clothes that were folded up neatly, a butterfly print adorning what was visible of the sleeves.

"Those are for when I grow up, Ziazan, it shouldn't be long now."

All in all, the packing didn't take long in the least, though Ellandra didn't speak until it was completed. When the brunette did finally make a sound again, it was a hoarse-sounding sigh, and a whisper-quiet, "Let's go."

Ellandra nodded quietly and tugged her notebook out of her luggage, going over to the desk for a moment to sit down and write a hurried, but thoughtful note. As she did so, Rhian hung around her neck again, humming softly and pleased to see that a little bit of life was seeping back into her Mama's eyes again, at least while she hummed. Finally, Ellandra finished the note and placed a small paperweight on it so that it wouldn't blow away. The note read, quite simply: