Elena's brow wrinkled as Katherine spoke. More than a couple of times, she wanted to butt in, say something - sometimes something snarky, sometimes something gentle and compassionate - but instead she stayed quiet, taking small, frequent sips of her beer until the bottle was almost empty.
Although Katherine was talking about a different version of herself, as she listened, Elena had to admit that the person Katherine was describing sounded a lot like her. Perhaps it would have been harder for her to do the same, give Katherine the same chances, after the way she'd stolen her body at home, but she found herself feeling glad that the previous version of herself had been open enough to help, despite Katherine's past transgressions. Elena remembered being that compassionate girl. She missed her. She thought she might have been slowly shutting her off, bit by bit, more and more with every threat and betrayal she faced. She wondered if that was how it had happened to Damon, until he'd made himself believe that he didn't care anymore. It shook her slightly, thinking of that comparison. She didn't want to lose who she used to be. She supposed that being here, hearing Katherine out, was a good way to start getting back in touch with her.
"I'm sorry that you had to go through that," Elena said after a moment, brown eyes meeting identical brown eyes. "It can't have been easy." Elena knew what it felt like to be vilified but she thought she probably couldn't even begin to imagine how much hate Katherine had been subjected to. It was true, she probably deserved a lot of it, but that made it even more impressive that she'd come through the other side.
"And I'm sorry that I haven't been as... forgiving as she was." Elena's eyes slid down to look at her beer bottle, feeling almost ashamed of herself.