Hushed Willows as spring opens (touching, skillfully, mysteriously) her first rose

For a moment, he was sure he'd said the wrong thing; there was a peculiar look on Eleuthera's face. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and waited in silent resignation until she thanked him — What? — and everything seemed quite normal again.

Her worries, finally, were something that Kincaid could understand and support. All this was batshit insane and he didn't think either of them should be there. Still, even if he didn't agree with her reasoning, he understood that she felt tied to this place and wanted to stay, and trying to convince her otherwise would be unhelpful. All he could do was support her, or remove himself from the situation.

The answer was obvious.

"I'll stay until things settle down," he told her, and then followed her into the roses with his tail swinging behind him. "One day, this'll just be somethin' t'look back on. Another story t'tell."