Daff collected things that people said weren't her fault, but she was guilty anyway. She tucked them away, tried not to think about them too often, but it didn't change the reality of the fact. She had torn their romance apart first; falling in love with Elias had cost him a dear friendship. Nobody blamed her, but she still blamed herself and always would. Daff internalized these things and tried to grow from them, but there was nothing she could do about the past and the hurt they had caused.

Something released in her chest a little bit though, when he said he was happy for her. For the first time since she'd come outside, she smiled slowly at him. It mattered. Of course it did. She hated that they always seemed to be at odds, even though she knew things couldn't go back to how they had once been, even friends. They could be friendly, sure, but anything more was unlikely. Letting go of that was the hardest part; they had been friends first, grown so close that she still felt like something was missing sometimes.

"Yes, sort of." They hadn't discussed specifics, but Elias knew that Noble had existed, just not who he was. Just the same that she knew he had been in love in the past too, but didn't know the woman's name. "He knows I was in love before, but not that it was you." They would talk about it, she had been meaning to find a way to bring it up, but since the uproar in June, she hadn't wanted to rock the boat again.