Ari smiled dryly when she picked up a block as well. Elliott was too absorbed in building a cluster of towers and mumbling to himself to notice the absence of a few stray pieces, so Ari held onto his, balancing it absently on his knee as Zelda admitted she’d heard nothing else.
She had returned the question, but he paused, deliberating whether it was best to say less rather than more on this. He glanced over his shoulder at the letter perched on the arm of the armchair behind him, creased and fingermarked from all the rereading. No, better to tell her than pass it over, since Darrow had mentioned her at the beginning of it. It was hardly unflattering and certainly not untrue, but Ari wasn’t sure ‘obviously I know she cares, but’ would be the sentiment she wanted to hear from him right now, nor praising her for her dedication the work that she was not actually getting to do.
“No, not much,” Ari agreed nonetheless, chewing on the sentence in doubt. Not enough. “Alfred wrote just to say Dionisia’s fine, safe and well and being of great help, but -”
He had tried to smile at her at this, because that was good and Zelda should be glad to hear about Dio, and that he and Darrow were still getting along - but the smile sputtered out too soon, a muscle clenching in his cheek and a sigh rattling somewhere around in his chest. He had no excuse to still be this worried, really, and Dio had never even been in danger, and he didn’t want to throw off something about having a friend aboard because that would mean actively considering the possibility of something having happened and he couldn’t -
He shut his eyes for a moment to try and clear the sudden, blistering ache in his temples, and opened them again to catch the building block again as it unbalanced.
She had returned the question, but he paused, deliberating whether it was best to say less rather than more on this. He glanced over his shoulder at the letter perched on the arm of the armchair behind him, creased and fingermarked from all the rereading. No, better to tell her than pass it over, since Darrow had mentioned her at the beginning of it. It was hardly unflattering and certainly not untrue, but Ari wasn’t sure ‘obviously I know she cares, but’ would be the sentiment she wanted to hear from him right now, nor praising her for her dedication the work that she was not actually getting to do.
“No, not much,” Ari agreed nonetheless, chewing on the sentence in doubt. Not enough. “Alfred wrote just to say Dionisia’s fine, safe and well and being of great help, but -”
He had tried to smile at her at this, because that was good and Zelda should be glad to hear about Dio, and that he and Darrow were still getting along - but the smile sputtered out too soon, a muscle clenching in his cheek and a sigh rattling somewhere around in his chest. He had no excuse to still be this worried, really, and Dio had never even been in danger, and he didn’t want to throw off something about having a friend aboard because that would mean actively considering the possibility of something having happened and he couldn’t -
He shut his eyes for a moment to try and clear the sudden, blistering ache in his temples, and opened them again to catch the building block again as it unbalanced.
