Nora felt bad when she saw how poorly Audrey reacted to the negative comments on the train. Clearly, the man had touched a nerve with his comment. It didn't help that most of the others vocally disagreed with him, since Audrey had already left. Did she really still think like that, even now that they were away from the castle? How long would it take for that to go away?
She was surprised when she found Audrey huddled in the corner in one of the drafty poor carriages. Was this the ones the theows had been traveling in? She had seen a few of them trying to go into this carriage as they were leaving.
"Audrey? Why are you sitting in here?"
Audrey didn't reply, but Nora saw the tears. Her friend hardly ever cried. This had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have pushed you into that position. I overestimated the response you would get. I mean, I saw that most of them were confused but I didn't…"
"I don't want to talk about it." Audrey said.
"Not all of them hate you, Audrey," Nora insisted. "And I suspect most of them will come around once…"
"Don't say it! You don't know that any more than I do!" Audrey interrupted her. "What if some of them die from the abstinences huh? Have you thought about that?"
Nora had thought about that, and so had the FBI. How could Audrey think otherwise? Nora recognized that Audrey tried to push her away. She wouldn't take the bait. She also planned to resign her job as soon as she had some time to herself and access to the internet again. Audrey needed her, and she suspected that some of the others here would need some moral support as well. She had started this, she wanted to see it through to the end. Audrey kept lashing out, but Nora knew her friend. She had been like this when her family died too, but then she hadn't had her own personal trauma to deal with as well. The detail she revealed about what Morcefres had said made her sick. As if this could get any worse.
Nora really didn't know what to say to make Audrey feel better. It had been the right decision and the only one she could do. Doing nothing wouldn't have changed the outcome. In the end, she had to stop her from spiraling, when she started blaming herself for everything.
"You can't continue to beat yourself up about this. Don't let the actions of a desperate you hold you down now that you're finally on the path to freedom! Whatever wrong you did, you've freed them all! Whether or not they agree about it right now doesn't matter. They will come around. Just wait and see. Please, don't let one person's sour mood sully your victory." Nora had no idea what she was saying, but anything to prevent Audrey from beating herself up, when she should have been enjoying the victory.
"I was just about to say the same thing," a voice said behind her. Nora turned and saw that it was another theow, an elderly woman. Nora took a step back as Audrey seemed to listen to this woman more than her right now. She was able to tell Audrey what had happened after she left the carriage.
As the train came to a halt, Nora stepped out of the carriage with the rest of them, but took a car with Bryan, leaving Audrey with the others. Her assistance wasn't needed or wanted at the moment.
"I thought you would be with your friend," Bryan said in a monotone voice. He was probably trying not to think about how broken his wife had become.
"It seems my presence there is not needed." Nora replied. "I only made things worse. For now, I think I can be of more use here. You seem like you could use some support as well"
Nora realized that she thought of Bryan as a friend, when she had thought that she would never be close to another man ever again. Seeing him so disheartened made her sympathetic to him, more than they had had before when they shared a common goal. She wanted to help him, but she didn't see how.
Bryan sighed. "I really should have expected that she would react like that, but it was still unexpected. She screamed like she had seen a ghost."
"She did see a ghost. Apparently, one of them had "taken an interest in her" and that's why they kept her alive. Though he also convinced her that you are dead and that she would be better off accepting her new reality."
"I don't know if I hate that man for trying to manipulate her like that or love him for keeping my wife alive. That depends on whether she will ever snap out of it I suppose."
Nora didn't know what to say to that. She also didn't know whether he wanted her to give him a hug, or leave him alone, so she ended up just sitting next to him, letting him decide if he wanted her comfort.
When they got to their destination, Nora was devastated when she realized that Audrey had been right. The FBI didn't want Nora and Bryan to stay in the same place the castle residents were housed. They would be allowed to visit occasionally, but until they could sort out the others' identities, they would have to remain there. Nora just hoped that they separated Aldheim and the other three from the rest of the crew.
Bryan and Nora found a room with two beds at a nearby hotel. Neither of them said much, though Bryan insisted on paying for the room. He dully said that he would probably use the room longer, since Audrey was among the few with a verifiable identity that were doing fine. Nora said that Rita had a verifiable identity as well, but Bryan just sighed and said that as long as she denied it, they would have to wait for the DNA results.