"Well, I'll admit, it takes a lot of agility, but the exercise wore me out and helped me sleep. You liked it then?" Celine asked, her eyes twinkling. "It's been over a year since I've done...things of that nature." The fact that he didn't seem to hate her gave her the courage to come close to him once more, and she smiled into his eyes.
"But there is also something else, Willem," she said after a moment, her eyes saddening again. A great weight was pressing on her chest and she felt as though she couldn't breathe properly.
"Since you have been so open with me about your wife, I feel as though I should tell you my guilt, too. I feel as though your guilt will ease with time, because last night, I thought I felt it begin to. But mine could never ease. When I came home after my fight with Randver to find my house burning, I did not go inside. I knew I could have been killed too. But I could have gone inside. I saw my ten-year-old sister, Raissa, standing there staring at me through the top floor window. Raissa was deaf, and she was signing furiously at me to do something. The next minute, the windows exploded and the whole house collapsed. You, at least, have the satisfaction of knowing that even if you didn't make it to your wife before she passed, you tried to get there. I did not even try. Almost the whole house was in flames by the time I had arrived, and my family, those who could, were screaming in pain. So I just watched my sister die and the house explode and I did nothing to try to save her. Even though the house burned quickly, I still feel like I should have tried." This time, there was no time for Celine to even try to compose herself. The weight on her chest was too great. "That's why I never sleep at night," she managed to say. Then she dissolved into tears.