"It's not much, but... it's home, I suppose. Was. "
She bites her lip and gazes down past the cliff at the very obvious ruins of a village below them. The whole place looks ancient, worn away by years of the undead and no one being around to care for it. She sees the trees starting to grow in places, plants creeping up the sides of what she supposes were once houses.
"It's so... empty," she says in a quiet voice. It is: there's nothing remotely alive down there. Unlike every other inch of Doomwood, which is teeming with skeletons and werewolves and ravens and creatures out of the worst of her nightmares. It's dreadfully sad, to look at. Quaint. It could be a painting. The sort you see in a museum and pass, say "That's nice," and walk away from without a thought spared towards it.
"I cleared the area years ago. Nothing comes here, oddly. It's like there's something there that we can't see. They're repulsed by it. Terrified." Glancing over, she seems him grimace. She knows this is painful, it must be, and it's all her fault. She was the one who wanted to come here, and she shouldn't have to put him through this pain.
She turns her gaze back down, regretting her decision now. She wouldn't have thought the remains of a tiny village would bring up these sorts of feelings. "It is safe, though, right? The fog's gone?"
"It's been gone for years. Cleared out a few months after it arrived. It was still too late for everyone. Obviously."
They stand there in silence, then, one with his hand curled into a fist, nails digging into palm to stop from crying out, the other with her hand clasped around the weapon at her side that she never seems to get rid of. Their minds in totally different worlds, even if their bodies stand close together.
"You don't have to stay," she says, suddenly. "If you can't. If it's too much. I'd like to get closer, but... I understand."
"No, it's okay," he says, but his voice sounds vaguely pained. "I'm fine. Really."
She raises an eyebrow. "That is a lie, and I know it. We can go back now. It's not worth a closer look. There's nothing I need to see down there, anyway. Right?" She smiles. Tries to get him to smile back.
He does, but it's very obviously not a real one.
But, she thinks, it's nearly close enough.