Gwen decided to send Gemma an owl, explaining the letter that the Stag King had sent her. She felt a sort of pride in knowing that the king took such good care of his subjects. Even though she was only partly fey he still cared enough to steal her away and hide her from danger. What country couldn't do with a leader like that?
She slept well the rest of the night and finished her essay in ample time for Dumbledore. She sent away her owl to Gemma and another to Graves, apologizing for her anger the previous evening. She would tend to Harry directly.
It seemed to her that the best way to deal with her strange existence was to keep plugging away. Sometimes she was a little afraid to get out of bed, but it was for that reason that she roused herself every morning. The unknown, the exciting mystery each day promised was more than enough to keep her hooked on life.
She wasn't living in optimistic times (who ever is?), but she was living optimistically herself.
Harry was glad to see her back to her usual self later in the day after receiving her apology for the huffy behavior.
"It's ok." He laughed. "Graves and I were being pretty asinine. It's just that your so�" He paused, fishing for the right words. "Worth it." He finished.
She rolled her eyes. Worth it, indeed. Worth all of the trouble she tended to cause? Worth all of the problems and unresolved past that haunted her still? She hardly felt worth it.
Harry noticed the way she was staggering back and forth in her mind. She felt powerful and yet she felt worthless. She didn't think she was worth the lengths he and Graves went to in order to keep her affection. How could he explain to her that she was? This seemed to be more of a self-esteem issue than anything and while Harry had his share of chips he couldn't very well help someone else unload theirs.
Gwen saw him staring off into the distance. He was so troubled sometimes it was frightening. He had seen hell, had been face to face with the devil himself. She blinked her eyes to clear the thoughts in her head. She couldn't help him until she helped herself.
As before, neither one of them knew that they were thinking and feeling the same exact things.