Brennan knew that everything had gone wrong from the blank expression on her face. The very absence of outward expression showed him more than if she had broken down in tears. He knew, because he could feel the echo of that same agonizing rawness in his own heart. His face twisted into an disheartened grimace, before the lines calmed as he shoved his own feelings out of the way. They were spending too much time talking about him, even though his long time friend was clearly hurting right in front of him. That was not something that he could live with.
Although she stood and put some distance between them, Brennan followed her. Years might have passed since they last were together, but Brennan had not forgotten how to be a friend. His earlier hesitations burned away by her obvious distress, he stepped forward and enfolded her with his arms and pulled her against his chest. "Gods, Imp." His voice came out sounding hoarse. He had not seen the village after the attack, so he could not imagine what that had been like, but she clearly knew. And that knowing was eating her up inside. To see the indomitable Imenry, someone whose passion, pertinacity, and puissance defined her, cracking at the edges underneath her facade made him grip her tight as if he never wanted to let her go...again.
While he might not have been much better off, he deferred his feelings with humour and flippancy but doing so did not make the feelings any less real, Imenry came first. She always came first in his mind. "The questions can wait, for now I just want to hold you." It was enough to know that she was alive for him right now, and he did not care about how she had managed it.