Ocean's Breath Plateau But I am just a fool, 'cause I could be in love if I really tried

@Simbelmyne occupied her thoughts. Bearing several soft pelts intended as a gift for the woman and her children, Marina sought her as evening fell over the sands. There'd been no time to see if the gathering had raised Simbelmyne's spirits at all; abruptly they were home, abruptly Dutch was home, abruptly Seelie had been taken.

Sympathy and remembered heartache stirred in her own chest; what mother ever stopped grieving her children? Each breath taken without them was cut short, every smile tinged with sorrow. But those first days of loss — those were the hardest, and had been each time.

Heat welled beneath her tear-stained cheeks. She had given her voice to the wind at the bay, to the walls of her den, until every last shred of its tone disappeared. Not a cry came from her lips as she whimpered still, only a hoarse rasping that might represent her breaths. With each inhale she shuddered, with each exhale she let out a silent keen. 

She had three children to count, to hold, to love- and a husband who recovered- and yet she became negligent. Inconsolable, she waved them off when they came to her with questions, requests or needs. She moved out of reach of those who loved her most, teetering on the edge of insanity. She sought space and silence, as if to stow herself away in a tomb of sorrow. 

Marina was not welcomed when she arrived, and the pelts she brought did nothing to catch Simbelmyne's gaze. She turned a shoulder to the woman, too, turning back her ears so she might tune out the healer's presence entirely.

Her heart ached, but Marina set to arranging the pelts without missing a beat. She settled beside Simbelmyne when the task was finished, undemanding but stubborn in her continued presence.

It never gets any easier, She murmured after a short time spent with the silence. Losing a child. But you don't have to carry these burdens alone. Simbelmyne had never needed to be alone, though Marina wasn't sure she saw it now any more than she'd seen it before. It didn't matter. Marina would still be a steady presence at her side — for as long as it took Simbelmyne to see it.