Mauve and Elowen both stepped in around Grey almost without thinking, their brows furrowed as they placed themselves between him and the newly arrived Guardians.
Everyone present had seen enough of the battle to understand that The Immovable wasn't the reason Grey looked like he was about to collapse. He had dismantled her far too easily for that, which meant the damage tearing through him now had come from everything he had already forced himself through during the Culling, and by extension, from everything he had done for them.
Elowen felt that realization settle particularly heavily.
Grey had taken her place when she failed to understand the Angelic writing, carried the burden of their Territory when she couldn't, and now her own city was turning on him while he was barely standing, once again because he had refused to let them drag her somewhere she didn't want to go.
