"I, I don't know what to say," Ollie said honestly after another minute of uncomfortable silence, as he listened to her rough, irregular breathing and felt her body quake with occasional tremors. "I want to help, but I don't know how."
"You are helping, Ollie," Ashlynn said as she gave him an affectionate hug before she pulled back from the young knight and turned her gaze away from the pit for the first time since he'd arrived to look directly into his pale eyes.
"You just being here helps," she said softly. "It reminds me that I'm not facing this alone anymore. If you'd been with me back then, you'd have fought off both of Owain's knights and pulled me from the earth before I even had a chance to free myself, wouldn't you?"
