Blackfeather Woods No number, no return address

Even though he knew that it was not rational to follow Zephyr on his death quest, there was something very powerful about the way that Takiyok allowed him to play with the idea anyway. She did not chastise him. She did not yell at him. She did not try to convince him he was wrong, because she knew very well that he was not stupid, and going over the mountains again was not a good idea.
He smiled at her meaningfully. He wanted to be able to express how much he loved her, but he couldn't. It was a strange feeling, and so he did the best he could by just listening.
But when she mentioned her heat, he lost focus. It had been bothering him for a while, but he'd never felt it was right to ask her about it. If anything it was she who wanted children more than he did, and so asking her about her own fertility was a wildly inappropriate gesture.
Emotion took over against his will. It was me. He said suddenly. If you'd picked anyone else, you wouldn't be in this mess. My life is fucked, it always has been. You bet on the wrong horse. The words were harsh and fast and raw. It was partially a symptom of his lingering mental illness, and partially his own very old anxiety about her being far too good for him.