Trying to look at one's own future was like an eye trying to look at itself. Even with Blindfold acting as a mirror, the image was still in reverse, still contorted enough that it didn't quite make as much sense as it should have. Having someone else to see beside her and focus her sight confirmed her suspicions that Lady Fortune did indeed have designs against them. And none too kind.
Seeing the questionable grip they maintained on their lives caused the older woman to scrape her fingernails lightly against Ruth’s palm to assure herself that she was indeed still there, had not been plucked away prematurely. Irene knew precious few people to begin with, and no one else who made her feel so deliciously maternal or understood the way her mind worked quite like her little protégé. A future where she lost Ruth was too distressing to focus on for more than a moment, too upsetting to allow to occur. “It can’t.” Irene said resolutely.
She knew with unflinching certainty that she would push anyone else in the way of the future if it meant preserving those close to her, fault and remorse be damned. She wouldn’t want to live with herself otherwise. Destiny moved back towards the future, gently prodding at the distant possibilities. Sifting through her garbled dreams, she tried to connect the dots, figure out the formula. Apologizing for and trying to altogether avoid the cold shocks of Vogel’s presence, she tried to find where the future took its nearest and most costly turn.