018: Inside the Big Tent

[Carnelia]

As the two of us stand still watching Orion disappear into the crowd, I don’t have anything useful to say. I’ve never raised a child of my own to early adulthood.

So I do the only thing I can. I hold her. As she cries against my shoulder, I let her weep out all of her pain as she tells me about how much time she has lost. I comfort her as best as I can, patting her back and smoothing her hair as she bemoans every decision she has made over the forty-plus years she should have been there raising her family.

"I always thought I'd have more time," she sniffles. "And then months turned into years, and years turned into decades as I searched for Daax and sought vengeance against my father and brother for their cruelty. But in the end," she wipes her eyes, "I often wonder if it is worth it. Yes, I have Daax back, and I am grateful for that every day, but I should have been there more, and now...now I never will be."

It's so strange seeing Ona so weak and vulnerable, but having her