Emberwood i don't know how to love anything without sinking my teeth into it

“It’s those long legs of yours,” she quips, trying to make her daughter smile. “I know one thing — you are capable of more than you think you are. You do not like that you run from things, but that is changed simply — not easily, but simply. Run toward something instead. You are only running blindly if you have no destination — you just need to choose one.” She preens at the girl’s nape, allowing her a moment to break apart, and then tacks on very quietly, “There is no shame in taking time for yourself to regroup and recalibrate, my girl. In battle, we retreat. Running does not need to mean losing. Sometimes, it gives us the respite we need to help us win.”

“You are my daughter, Mallaidh, and your father’s daughter. Of course you are worthy — not just of a crown, but of anything you wish!” She laughs as if the girl has said something very funny, but her face is gentle and utterly without mocking. More somberly, “You do not have to carry so much on these shoulders, no matter how strong they are,” she chides her daughter. “If you had not gotten lost, the tree would still have been heavy and weather-weak. Maybe if you had not gotten lost, it would have taken you instead — and that, I could not take.” She noses fondly at the girl’s tear-dampened cheek. “The way it is, I have six strong, healthy, living children, and a beautiful wife, and a handsome husband. I am satisfied — I just wish…”

She draws a deep breath, her argent eyes glittering with pride and love as she looks upon her firstborn. “Well, I cannot say that I wish we’d shared a lifetime, because we did,” she concedes, “but I wish we’d had more time. Maybe you would understand then that you and your brothers and sisters are my greatest accomplishment — that I could have wished for nothing greater than what I already see in you.”