Rowena only sees this tender exchange and their the warmth of their friendship through the clouded obscurity of her mission. Rowena has to get this off her chest and complete this final task so she can move on with her own life unfettered by the lives of her parents before her, but Macabre's reaction makes her stutter and stall.

"No, no... I mean, yes." Of course didn't come just to deliver this message. She would have come here with or without this mission. Macabre is Rowena's only friend in this messed up world. But how does she express this in words? "I mean, I did come here to deliver this message, but I would have come to find you regardless. You're important to me, Macabre, and I hope you know that..."

Rowena falls silent for a moment. Her eyes shine with unshed tears. "Vodnik wanted me to tell you that you're the only one that ever mattered."

She takes a deep breath and delves into an explanation. "I spent a lot of time getting to know my father after we left the islands. It's a long story, but I think he tried to conquer the world to fill a void inside himself that no physical pleasure or power trip could fill. It was you that filled it, and he didn't know how to tell you at the time. He loved you, Macabre, and he died content in knowing you." Rowena chokes on the words. "Thank you," words spoken from her own heart, not the memory of Vodnik.

As much as Circe tried to pit Rowena against Vodnik, Rowena's heart softened to him. It gives her peace to know Vodnik left this world after finding the one thing he truly sought: love.

It's at this moment that Rowena succumbs to emotion. Tears escape to wet her cheeks. She lowers her head and turns away, hiding her twisted face with a curtain of her own mane. Strong sobs shake her shoulders and trembling knees struggle to hold under the force of it all.