Duck Lake are you worth your weight in gold, cause you're behind my eyelids when i'm all alone

it had not helped. mahler blinked with a disjointed sense of failure growing inside him; he turned his gaze back upon the lake that held no appeal for him. a brother. murder. ducks. the words spun through his head and mahler realized again with chagrin the disconnect betwixt him and many others, how he had just pressed alarian beyond the boy's limits due to a misreading of a situation he found he did not understand.
and while worry lanced through him for alarian's safety, mahler was reluctant to venture into intimate territory after so heated a rebuff. "vhat is the most interesting plant you have found thus far?" the musiker inquired quietly, a muscle leaping in his cheek, inspiring a rush of muted frustration.
he did not look at alarian this time.