"No, it started before I left, with Egypt." Jo corrected. The explosion had caused her more than just chronic physical pain - it had effectively robbed her of her magic too. Losing that had diminished all of her confidence almost as quickly as one blew out the candle. Then, once she added in everything that happened with Alfred and Zach, the genuine loneliness crept in.

She sipped on her beer as she considered just how much to share with him. Previously, Jo would have unwound like a spool of thread, relaying line after line of the experience in Georgia. However, that was before the boundaries were put in place. Was he asking out of morbid curiosity? Did he truly wish to know? More importantly though, did she even wish to unload on him as she once might have? Despite her wish for the answer to be otherwise, Jo immediately knew that she did.

"I lost myself." She eventually landed upon. Too many critical events happened within too short of a time frame and Jo simply wasn't able to process any of it. Not her hand or magic, not her mother dying, not what a long term commitment would look like, not her adventure in motherhood, none of it. "I was drowning in quicksand and no one was capable of pulling me out."

Perhaps if the different important people were aware of one another and elected to work together they would have then been strong enough. "And I wasn't able to lift myself out either."

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