It was hard to hear all that Legend said, because she had begun to sob in earnest. It would take time before Aiesha was in control of herself again; but she was cognizant of the way the woman wrapped around her, so careful and so incredulous, and the doubts that she whispered to life.

There was certainty in the way they both ached.

All she could do was sit there, propped against this woman she had wanted very much to hate, and feel a radiant comfort instead. This woman who her father had chosen over her own mother! But that had not been Legend's fault; if anything, her presence had brought a warmth to Senmut which had been fading, and in that way the family had been saved. Now Legend was here to offer her support again, to the grieving girl this time.

They could grieve their losses together.

I am glad that you made it. I—I don't think my father, or myself, could handle losing you, too. She breathed, and slowly her sobbing became something less, as a storm might pass. Aiesha moved to rub her nose and clean her face a little bit, which didn't do much.