[Barbara's eyes go wide, and her first reaction is to give an involuntary jerk as Darin wraps his arms around her. It was not what she expected. It is something that she stopped expecting when she was a young child and realized that comfort from a wind drake could not come from its forelimbs, and learned instead to crawl under the shelter of a wing.
She doesn't know what it's like to be hugged not as a child by a parent, a protector to a charge. Darin is a comrade, an ally, a friend--a person feeling the same kind of pain as her.
That's what this is... a sharing of the pain. Like a heavy load borne together. Hesitantly, Barbara lifts her arms and puts them around him. If they both hold this together, they don't have to carry it alone.]
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She doesn't know what it's like to be hugged not as a child by a parent, a protector to a charge. Darin is a comrade, an ally, a friend--a person feeling the same kind of pain as her.
That's what this is... a sharing of the pain. Like a heavy load borne together. Hesitantly, Barbara lifts her arms and puts them around him. If they both hold this together, they don't have to carry it alone.]