Broken Antler Fen well I'mma go down on a railroad track

There was a moment of quiet after she'd spoken, as if he might say something; maybe she only imagined it, wished for it. Wished for him to know what he could not know, to save them both the conversation and the heartache that might result from it. Instead there was that electrified hesitation on both their parts.

When he did speak it was one word, questioning. As Akavir pulled back Ibis thought, he knows, and in that instant expected something; instead there was only his stare, which she met with a fleeting glance at first. Afraid to look at him, to face the situation.

Lilitu was not here to meet her father. She could start there. Would that make him leave again? To hunt not for one wayward daughter but two, at the expense of the wife he had left behind too long already?

Ibis swallows the lump in her throat. Lilitu left to look for you. For Arielle, too. Only a few days ago. Had it really only been days? A week maybe, or longer, Ibis was not attuned to the passing of time when she had the pressing matter of her newborns to tend to.

I thought you were gone. She finally admits to herself, aloud though, barely audible. Her voice grows a little stronger as she says, Everyone, everyone leaves me. Now the tears come, warming her cheeks as they slide down her face. There is more anger in her voice than she wants but Ibis can't help it, she's always been emotional and she couldn't keep it bottled up.

I have a son. It should have been 'we'.