Swiftcurrent Creek kindertotenlieder

not at all! <3

to both her dogged pursuit of the proper sound, and her fearless testing of the tail, he felt ragged smiles break across lips that trembled only slightly from the weight.  she had allowed him to teach her; she had done well and perhaps by proxy he could find commendation within himself for his own part in that.
mahler did not shy as puppy-sharp teeth grasped his ear; the gargoyle grunted, jaw tensing, but gave a light incline of his head toward the duckling, that she might find a steadier grip. through his observation of her and the deer-tail, mahler had gathered to himself some of the steps the little one might take toward discovering an answer to her piping inquries. 
thus children, the musiker had decided, were rather perfect in their very inability to apply any logic not yet learned; each glissade, each texturing, each fragrance upon the wind — all new, and all individually experienced in the heart of tiny wolves. here was music —! mahler felt the awareness ecstasiate the cadence of his heartbeat. "hirsch," the man murmured again.
seeking to gentle tug his ear from the tenacity of her grasp, mahler nosed the damp playing-thing and nipped it between front teeth. a flick of his heavy muzzle into the air — the object flopped awkwardly in suspended space before descending. a neat snap and he had recaptured the cervine flag. lowering his ash-stippled crown, the man sought to return it to the child's interest.
quite beyond his control, mahler was immersed briefly into a memory of how without trepidation his own children had been. and while their names he had locked away into vaults to which not even he had the key, mahler emerged shaken. the warmth to his visage had drained; he stared down unseeing at the earth between his forelegs, seeking only to understand his breathing.
only a handful of seconds ticked by, iconic in the feeling of eon — the man came to and sought the reaction of his charge — she was that, was she not? while wylla was away? — hoping he had not frightened her.