Altar of Twilight andächtig

Nyx paused, lifted her gaze to meet the frosted lilac of the gargoyle as she regained his focus. There was an emptiness in his stare that startled her, a hollowness that she'd long felt within herself. 

Familiar for her to feel, but a discomfort to see it in him.

The lioness had thought when she were to reunite with Mahler, he would be glowing. For all those weeks, she'd been so certain he was content and thriving. She'd imagined him living his best life, unweighted by the strain of his secondary family, while their daughters yearned for their father and Nyx mourned the tiny flicker of love she thought she felt for him. Ears splayed backward, she turned her face away - ashamed of her assumptions.

Wylla, gone.
Stag, gone.
Takiyok, gone.

To know that it was turmoil that delayed his visit to Elke and Ciri was devastating.

"I thought..." I thought you'd be happy, "I just wanted... I wanted you to be kind to yourself, "I..." I missed you every day.

Emotion swelled thickly in her throat, like tar, and words failed her.