Alicia had thought herself handling Adrian’s appearance here fine, until Lisa’s message had made her really think. She didn’t blame Lisa, of course, in fact, she was really touched by the younger (now considerably younger) witch’s concern for her. Yes, she missed Adrian horribly now that he was here, but what really bothered her, was that she didn’t know how to help him, how to make that anger and confusion she had brought to him go away. And that was what had her seek out the peace and quiet of the ocean.
Apparently, she was not the only one, and for a moment she watched the other woman settle down closer to the water than she was. As the minutes went by, though, something about the woman had Alicia’s concern go up. She didn’t just seem stressed or upset, no… she seemed… lost? Grieving? Something about the state of this woman just felt horribly familiar. Not her looks, no, Alicia knew without a doubt that she had never met or even seen this woman before, but… what was it her grandfather always said? Something about you always knew your own lice by the way they walked. And this woman looked to be walking in the same way that Alicia had walked right after the war.
“Excuse me,” she said gently and sat down a fair distance from the other woman, as she didn’t want to encroach too much about her. “Are you all right?”