"You're hurt?" There was a touch of disbelief in the question. Valya did not think that Eloisa was injured. Surely she had not struck her hard enough. She hoped she had not. Whether calm or fuming, hurting the other woman was the last thing she wanted. That was why she had gone to so much trouble of putting all her weapons - large and small - in other places around the house, conveniently ignoring that it left her unarmed should anything attack her in her sleep when she was alone in the house. It was true, though; she did not need a weapon to cause damage. And she might not have caused any real injury but the idea of hurting Eloisa had never been welcomed. Just making her ill with the gifts she was turned to made her uneasy.
She hadn't hurt her, she reasoned. She was just surprised.
Trying not to give into her urge to either put her fist through the wall or her feet through the upturned drawers, Valya buried her face in her hands. It was an incredibly human gesture, one among many that seemed to have almost been shed forever and a day ago. At some point they all seemed to become obsolete. With Eloisa's input, her temper had left her unsettled, stuck in a restlessness that had her either wanting to break or kill something, else curl up on the bed and let sheer exhaustion take its course. If she did the latter she suspected she might cry. It wasn't an option. She hadn't ever been very good at handling negative emotions. Glancing at Eloisa, she moved to retrieve the cast-off pillows. She hugged them to her chest as she brought them back, chewing on her lip. Ela was better at saying what she felt when enough of it had built up. Valya had never been very good at that kind of communication; half of the time she wasn't sure what she was feeling herself. She was an excellent listener, though. Still holding the pillows, she dropped one knee onto the bed and sat, watching Eloisa intently. She wanted to know what the rest of that sentence was going to be. It was hard to try and fix things when there were gaps in the complaint. Her mouth opened once to ask, confused again, before closing. Eloisa had had no problems voicing the rest, clearly whatever she had cut off wasn't meant to be heard. So she began rearranging the pillows.
"I know." Valya was beginning to sound as tired as she felt. "But you have it the wrong way round." One hand reached out to beckon her to come back to the bed. Though she could understand if she was refused. "I forgot nothing. My subconscious remembers exactly what it is like to have you in my bed, love. It also remembers that I have been alone for decades." The question made her falter, and her eyes turned away before she finally shook her head. She did not know. And selfishly, she did not want to find out. "Ela, you know you are no intruder. I do want you here. I should have warned you." That concession was the closest Valya was going to give to an apology, because since Eloisa was more or less fine there was nothing wrong with her confused attempt at self defense.