Aeri sighs as she stares into the gnome's eyes. Then she takes him by the hand and pulls him into a walk. "Moving always does me good. And... I have some things to say, too. They might not help, but..." Somehow with her hand to guide him the ice on the street does not seem so formidable. Ras finds that his boots tread on the slick surface as though it were dry and warm. Dragons...
"I've known loss, too, you know. The Hand of the Seldarine, where your Uncle... Anyway. He shares a tomb with hundreds of my friends." She stops her feet for a moment and shoves her nose up against Ras'. "I'm not saying this to belittle your feelings for your Uncle. That's not the point at all." She starts walking again. "It's just... it's just an awful place, you know?"
They pass by a street covered in orc bodies, and Aeri gives his hand a little tug to direct him another direction. "Yeah, maybe not that way..."
She walks in silence for just a moment, then continues. "It's an awful place... but it wasn't always. It was a good place. A great one. But then..." Her hand tightens enough to cause significant discomfort to Ras, but for some reason she is the one who yelps. "Oh, sorry! I... It happened. It's all my fault!" Such sudden anguish fills her voice that it takes Ras a moment to understand that she isn't talking about his hand. Not entirely, perhaps not even mostly.
"It was me, Ras! I mean, I didn't kill them, but it was my fault they died." Her other hand comes up to wipe her eyes as they walk, and she sniffles loudly. "I didn't do my job. Not well enough. I wasn't vigilant. I was supposed to keep an eye on things. I had one job. I failed... and they died. All of them died. And then Fergy died. And your Uncle died. My fault..."
She stops in the street and throws her arms around him. She's surprisingly - or not so surprisingly, all things considered - heavy. "I'm so sorry, Rastix!" There are a few passersby, but they seem too engrossed in their own exhaustion and feelings to pay attention to the two gnomes.
