Sawtooth Spire You were taught to kill, so you kill like a machine.

he wanted to go to nyx, to butt against her shoulder and take in the measure of the comfort she had been the only one to offer. yet mahler held himself back — he swallowed, brushing her cheek with a cursory affection before he shifted restlessly.
"i vill need to search for him outside sagtannet," the man went on, the words thick and bruised upon his tongue. for all the love he bore ciri and elke, for all the careful feeling he harbored toward their mother, he could leave no stone unturned while a child was missing.
"i vant a guard here and there," he muttered in the next, nonsensically, perhaps, but the words hung grim.