Larksong Grotto His goal in life was to be an echo

Reek shook his head and attempted to swallow the lump in his throat, however, it remained steadfast. "Wish I was," he quickly returned in a monotonous drone. Normally, Reek would have tried to deflect from his stewing emotions with humor or some sort of sarcastic quip— to somehow ignore his problems on the breath of someone else's laughter, in this case, Jhala's. It worked for the little problems: the day to day aches. This, however, was far too heavy for Reek to ignore.

"We aren't ready," he continued, head hanging low. He wasn't exactly sure he and Tavi would ever be ready for such a thing. Reek had thought himself ready with Saena, but obviously he had not been. He sucked in breath. Life was not simple.