At first, she thought the girl was speaking just about the recent events with Clouse. But with her next words, it became clear that she meant something else, and Lana's ears fell.
Llinnea went on, as she did the woman's heart sank. She didn't understand all of it, not even close, but she had the sickening feeling that this had to do with why the girl was relatively on her own when they'd met and that it was a terrible oversight to not have noticed sooner that something terrible might have happened. It didn't seem as if Loach was anymore clued in that she was. She could start to guess, now, though, and she didn't like the murky picture that was being painted.
Was that why Llinnea had reacted that way when Clouse arrived and,
spoke her words as she said? She feared he might be like whoever had used that against her before, feared that they might let a foe claiming to be a friend join them?
As the sobs began to shake the girl's frame, Lantana moved to sit beside her, where Llinnea could lean for support if she wished to. She wished she knew the right things to say, to do, but she had always been a crappy big sister at best and her own family had hardly set any better examples of an empathetic or protective figure. She wanted to assure the girl that whatever happened, it couldn't have been her fault. But she did not know how to assure her about events she could only guess at.
Letting out a slow breath.
"And you're scared it'll happen again?" she glanced at Loach. Was this just an issue of needing to help her learn healthy boundaries as a lone wolf, or was there still someone they really needed to worry about lurking around?