Jade Fern Grove lift back and see the darkness hid

for however long iana would remain, mahler held her to the thump of his heart. she was small against the largesse of him; a myriad sensations came and went, until all that was left were the two of them plagued by their own grieving.
the old arrogance; why should it be this way? sloping away only to knowingness, and to the grim imagination of iana set with little ones alone, where mahler could not daily be and would not always follow.
the cough tightened in his throat, but he could not give it voice now, and so mahler only focused on her breathing and his own, eventually setting them together as regret tingled with want in his figure and he held both back for the sake of the little healer.