Xaviers!

"I... guess. It just makes me feel weak and useless..."

"You will heal. You may not be the same, but you will be whole."

Nailah presses her lips into a thin line. Patience isn't her strongest suit.

"At least I won't have to actively remember this part of it..."

"Oh I'm sure you'll be back to trying to chase me away from your roommate in no time," she smirks.

"I don't really get you, but I guess they trust you enough to let you wander around like this..."

"Things change. You might think you're on one certain path, and then others open up to you."

"Do you always talk like this? Like a mom writing fortune cookies?"

"Would you listen if I just told you it straight?"

"Not according to my actual mom at least."

"Besides, most of you feel so clever when you figure it out."

"Most of us what? Non-werewolves?"

"Most of you with natural lifespans."

"I take it back, you sound more like somebody's gran-gran. Like you get some kind of mystic knowledge about things just cause you're old."

"You live longer, you see more. If you let yourself."

"Yeah, a lot of old, outdated stuff."

"And now we're back to the not listening."

"Just sounds like you don't really want to help so much as be all smug at people."

"You want it straight? Alright."

"I wound up the way I am because I was in love with the burgomaster's daughter. She told the priests I led her into sin, but as I recall it she did most of the leading."

"In another age there might have been therapy or counseling, but back then they were very keen back then on burning their witches, whatever form those witches might take."

"The night before it was to happen, a dwarf appeared to me and offered me a way out. I was desperate, and I took it."

"Since then, I was reasonably certain that I was damned, and as time went on I started to carry on with that in mind. I kept company that would curl your hair, and I hunted and killed in exchange for comfort. Eventually I hunted and killed for fun. After all, I was damned."

"And then I died. It was only for an eyeblink. I wasn't alone. I could see the Morrigan reaching out to try to catch all those little lights, before even she was snuffed out."

"And then I wasn't dead at all. All the strings that held me fell away."

"Freedom was frightening. It still is."

Nailah looks at her for a long time and she had to admit that maybe Isolde has a little bit of a basis for giving her advice even if her initial reaction to bad things happening had been to, well, become a monster.

"I'm sorry. That people were so awful to you and all."

"It's past. I can't change it. Perhaps I didn't learn the best lessons from it."

"But I'm alive, and I can learn new ones."

"That's nice..." she says, sounding more dejected than sarcastic and almost a bit jealous.

"If you're that impatient, I could heal you, but you wouldn't like the way I do it."

"Wow, yeah, that's a super-great idea. Congrats, you found one of the few things that could make this whole thing worse."

"I already said you wouldn't like it," she smirks.

"The silver-lining here is that I'm not going to remember this conversation anyway." she frowns.

"You could write it down. Bullet point, old lady talks too much."

Nailah sighs and musters a brave smile that's quickly becoming well-practiced. "I... do appreciate people trying to help and all, but I don't care if I'm pushing myself too hard. I need this. I gotta know there's still something I can do, I can improve in. That I'm not just stuck retracing my steps every day."