Hushed Willows but my love is like a dark cloud full of rain thats always right there up above you

brilliance and solomon's miraculous return to them has eased some of the burden on delight's back. but there are still things lingering -- alarian's departure and their breakup, his guilt in allowing his daughters to slip away in the first place, queenie like a specter, threatening to burst through the tidy walls of his heart at any moment. his anger has thawed from their time spent searching -- he cannot trust her but he can admit that he still loves her in whatever way he has loved her before. he knows her, though, and knows that her return would  not be a happy reunion -- she wants her children, and he will not give her that,  not now. not yet, at least.

this is the third -- no, fourth! time delight has found himself starting over. the hushed willows are beautiful and full of promise. delight does not trust promise anymore; every fresh start he has managed to burn to the ground lingers in his mind, ghosts of failed attempts at reinvention. and what a history! he has been remiss in his duties. he has been remiss as a person.

he has not had the chance to speak to @Seabreeze since his return, and it is she who he seeks out now. to apologize, of course, and to -- to see his friend, now that they aren't under threat of death and surrounded by cats and chaos. there are so many things he wants to say (and needs to say) but -- well. we'll see how gracious she is feeling towards him these days.