Her fingers curl up, instinctually nearer to her, because she is cold, drenched, and without the temper to fuel her, keep her warm, she shivers in cold. A sodden little scrap of misery. "You have been kind to me, and I know you loved before me. I do not resent that. We must be what our families need."

She takes a shaky breath, trying to find the steadiness to reply to her. To the first real words that they've spoken together for months. Or what it feels like it is. It was so impossible to tell what Magni was thinking, what she wanted. No matter how Lakshmi tried to - to invite her. How appreciative she tried to be of any little gesture. So often it felt brushed away. Like it was not something Magni wanted.

But this was... Lakshmi licked her lip where her teeth had been and tried her best to carry on. "I just wish they would all not remind me I cannot be that to you. That I am not... not her."

Be in some other woman's shadow. That etching feeling that she isn't what is wanted.