[She watches him continue to dig, carving into the earth, strike by strike. Is there a catharsis in this? She figures the answer is, yes, there is. If just for the small fact that this is something in their lives they can control.

She listened, and now, Cassandra is stuck thinking to herself. Heavy lines form across her face as she faces what must be some tumultuous feelings. Things that have been weighing on her all evening coming back to light. As she speaks, it's not like the typical Cassandra. It's small, quiet.]

He wanted to do great things, make his dad proud... just like I did. That's how we actually became friends.

[She sighs heavily, like this is taking a considerable weight off her chest. Or it would.]

When his dad was trapped, he... he turned on the kingdom, on all of us. He kidnapped the queen, threatened her. And when we came to rescue her... He tried to kill me.

[How long ago had it been? When the cold winds whipped the castle towers, threatening to topple them as they buried the land in endless snow? All to make matter worse when one boy burst into the throne room, crying for help as everyone else was freezing to death.

She shivers, even though the summer evening is rather warm.]

There was just nothing we could do.