Symbolic. Effective. Torturous. She stared stunned as she watched each single pearl slip away from her, her hold on some only causing others so out of reach to disappear. At the sight of a couple bouncing scattered into the flames of the fire place, it was too much for her to take, and with her head bent, she felt the tears sting at the back of her eyes, threatening to draw forth in her moment of despair. There was only so much she could hold in herself, only so much of a veneer of falseness that she could construct without failing against the assailed attacks of Leathan. She had never been so weak to protect herself, than in that instance when everything felt as if it fell crashing down around her.

"You can't do it on your own."

"Leave," she breathed, her eyes gripping shut before her voice wavered when she spoke again, her fingers tightly clasping the number of precious stones she'd been able to gather as if they were her single life line. "Just leave."

With her head bent, she paused a moment before she cried, "I don't need you, especially not you."