"It. It was not that you pushed too hard. I mean. Maybe you did, but I understand why and that was not what hurt." Rren had worked over what to say in their head, but it all fell apart once they started speaking. "Honestly, most of my tantrum was not even you, it was me taking out other stuff on you which was wrong of me. It was Merlin dismissing me on the isle and making me doubt myself. And... it was how much I miss Khell. Without her it is... much more difficult to take a joke. And I...." Nope nope they had not started this apology with the intent to get stuck on Khell. "I know you saw the effort I was putting in, but comments about how I would have skipped out if I could have still stung."

If Khell were here, they wouldn't have stung was the worst part. She would have pushed right back and they would have found them funny, just like they had before they'd gotten stuck here. But when it was just them?

...

How much of this boiled down to how much they missed her? More than they'd even guessed until they'd started the apology.