Despite his distaste for Olivia's constant snark and enthusiasm, Hero was finding the lack of it to be decidedly unsettling.
The young woman trudged along beside him on the path worn into the underbrush, head hung as she clutched her injured arm in the other hand. The frostbite had been treated by a medic after the initial rush of the wounded, coated in a healing herb and bandaged, but Olivia had yet to report any change in the lack of feeling she could detect on that patch of skin. Perhaps that was the only reason for her quiet and malaise, but Hero could not help but assume, to his own guilt, that he was at least partially responsible.
The pair was on their way to the city of Kvett, a northern city with a reputation for housing the greatest temple of Notch in the modern world, and, as the god seemed to be their only hope, said temple was their next stop. Hero was never a worshipper of Notch, and indeed had many bitter thoughts about him as a child who never felt his fabled blessings, but, in their situation, they had little other choice. His own abilities paled in comparison to the havoc that Orion had wrought.
Hero snuck another glance at Olivia, to find that nothing about her stance or expression had changed. He felt displeased with himself for accusing her of not caring about her brother, but while he had never met the young man he imagined him to be a fine brother. Better than his own, anyway. If he had been anything like the Steven he had known as a child, Hero would have given his life to save him from the man that ravaged his city and kidnapped his family.
But, her rebuke had stood the test of reason. As he had informed her no dearth of times, she was a powerless, blind girl with little physical prowess. She had no reason to believe that she could even begin to fight an insanely powerful mythical being such as Orion.
"How long do you think the journey will be?" Olivia spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. It took him a moment to process this, then consult his map.
"Perhaps three or four days." He answered at last.
"Mm." She returned to staring at the path. Or… at nothing.
"Olivia?" He spoke after a brief pause. "I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Olivia lifted her head a bit. "Sorry?" Hero bit his lip.
"For accusing you back in the city, of not caring for your brother."
"Oh." A pause. "It's okay."
"I suppose I was putting myself in your place," He continued hastily, "And my brother in yours. He sounds like a fine man."
"Yeah."
"I did not- did not take into account the reality of the situation, of your physical status, that you would be unable to do much of anything. I'm sorry-"
"Okay, yeah, I get it, I said it's okay!" Olivia snapped, and Hero fell silent. He had a sinking feeling his apology had done more harm than good.
His fears were confirmed when he heard a sniffle, and spotted a wet patch on the blindfold over Olivia's eyes.
"Olivia." Hero shifted in front of her, and she stopped, lower lip trembling as she reached up to rub at her eyes. "It's alright, we're going to get him back."
"How d'you- c'n you know that?" Olivia's voice wobbled. "You can't. Notch, I just finished- I accepted his d-death, and now I have to worry all over again-" A sob wrenched itself from her throat, and, on an impulse, he took up both her hands in his.
"We'll find Notch, he has to help us." He insisted. "He can't simply ignore such a threat, if he's the hero they say he is."
"And if he isn't?" Olivia wrenched her hands away to press them over her face. "If he's s-so good, wh-why hasn't he helped already?"
"I don't know, Nether, maybe he doesn't know." Olivia only scrunched her face up into a scowl, hiding it in her hands. Herobrine let out a breath, pausing for a moment to take in the girl's form. She was wounded and dirty, sticks and leaves in her hair, one arm wrapped in bandages. On top of her own condition, she had no idea where her family was, or even if they still lived, and their captor was personally hunting her down for reasons she didn't understand. Indeed, she had cause to be miserable. Hero hesitated, then wrapped his arms around her.
He was fully prepared for her to shove him off or make a more violent move, but she just leaned against his chest and cried. She cried until she had run out of tears, wrapping her arms around his waist at one point to keep herself up. Hero let her. Of course, he wanted to get to Kvett as soon as possible, but he would rather stop and let her get her emotions out than force her to hurry on and keep them trapped inside. Notch knew that never did him any good.
Finally, her weeping quieted, but she stayed buried in his arms for a couple minutes longer before letting go. Her shaking hands immediately went to her blindfold, soaked with her tears, and Herobrine tied it around his arm so they wouldn't lose it. They spent a couple minutes longer just standing on the path, Olivia sniffling and rubbing at her red eyes. Hero let his hand rest on her shoulder as he studied her miserable face, her tired eyes. Those cursed eyes, that brought suffering to anyone infected with their blight.
"We should go." She spoke up at last. Her voice was exhausted, but some of the anger had ebbed away with her tears.
"Let's." Hero agreed, taking her hand. She gave it a squeeze, not complaining.
They set off down the path again, hand in hand.