[Past] Sins of the Father

When he entered she froze.  There were a hundred iterations of this meeting that had played out in her head and none of them had truly prepared herself for seeing him in person.  It had been a long time since they'd seen each other, so she wasn't surprised that he seemed different, but she hadn't expected him to look so defeated.  It was almost as if he was expecting her to berate him and so she found herself backing down from the impulse.

[color=#17b529]"Nathaniel,"[/color] his name rolled off her tongue, bitter and frigid.  She had half a dozen pithy and cutting remarks that came to mind, but she was doing her best to stay her tongue.  To handle this responsibly, like Fergus would.  She assured him before she left that she could manage this, and she was not going to fail him by flying off the handle in the very first moments.

So instead she let the silence linger for a moment before skipping any small talk, accusations, or other nonsense and skipping straight to the heart of the matter.  [color=#17b529]"I came here because I want to hear the truth from you about when you arrived, why you're here, and what part you played in your father's crimes."[/color]  Perhaps she should have included if any to qualify that last bit, but that was more than she could manage at the moment.  Fair or not, she was assuming some level of guilt until proven otherwise.