Firefly Ravine rusted

i hope u dont mind i stole your indent! <3

the words had rolled rustily from her tongue, and in their place a wine of grief and shame was poured, mingled with a cool relief. it was comforting to speak of her son aloud, even if in doing so she admitted her failings as a mother and her inability to locate the boy who had come from her body. the son who had survived the early birth upon the bare rocks of the ridge when his siblings had not. the man spoke and his words confirmed the fear that she would not find him. it was an early despair, perhaps irrational, but vuk saw the land stretch out before her and knew it was impossible to scour every reach for her little boy.

her lips parted, closed, parted again, and once more her jaws clicked shut with an ashamed finality. she wished to thank the man; she wished to speak of seff again, to buoy her own spirits, but when vuk looked within herself, all she found were the shards of her former self. taggarik had broken her, the death of her children had broken her. hiram had broken her, jhala  -- and now seff. was she a woman of raas, to be so easily discouraged?

vuk realized she had been staring mutely at the man all this time, and nodded quickly, belatedly at his offer. she swallowed, meaning once more to speak, but her face contorted into a sob, her countenance watering with salt. this man -- he had been the first one outside of larksong to show such kindness, and she realized she was starved for it. hiram had turned his back upon her, jhala was selfishly turned inward, and terich -- she loved him, but she did not know if his love for her was met in her own heart. vuk bowed her head and wept, and felt the weakness of herself grow. with any luck, the man would turn away and leave her with her sorrow and her guilt, alone, as she deserved.