Sleepy Fox Hollow Took this dagger in me and removed it

his teutonic voice made a vigil of her ears, lulling her into a sense of relief. phaedra did not expect an outright refusal, but she was nonetheless pleased at papa's amenability to her wishes. and as wrong as it was—
manipulative, doubtless 
—the girl was prepared to give him an ultimatum if he had the notion to leave wylla here. 

licking glacéed lips, enjoying the way saliva and fruit stuck to her teeth mingled in a sweet slurry, she watched as the doktor went about his mendcraft. if this experience was to have any influence on her own vocation to the trade, it was not currently obvious, because her mind was lured elsewhere by the hushlike press of 

'phae?' 

in her ears.

she snapped her head up, and moments later the graf set his intention to find water. but before he left without much ado, the girl mildly suggested some sort of somnific to keep wylla down. he probably already thought of it, idiot, ...but in case he didn't.

in the manner of one wringing their hands anxiously, rubbing finger over thumb over finger over thumb, phaedra’s attention shifted from the dour retreat of her father, ears secreting themselves in tousled ruff, to their convalescent. 

kneejerk bedside manner had her shuffling hastily to intercept any of the woman's self-exertions, concerned about the volatility of her dressing. “yes mama. lay still, ok?” she said, offering her shoulder as a bolster for the brokenwinged lark. 

without many ideas about how to placate the soul-deep kind of wound wylla looked to bear, phaedra chewed her lip in thought; she doesn’t know how life was for her, but the knowledge of certain abject suffering is still ashes and bitter aloes in her mouth. 

'i know she left you' had been said amid the other things; and while phaedra didn’t know who her mother was referring to, she swallowed the urge to hiss how hypocritical it seemed to make the observation. she too had left! had she not?

instead, shoulders slumped and a sigh escaped her. there was no telling how lucid wylla even was presently — if she’d even comprehend a word that came from her daughter’s mouth. 

“sometimes people leave before we’re done needing them,” she began quietly 
“maybe they think they’re doing the right thing." and leaned to place a kiss on her cheek. 

"even if the ones being left don't agree on that."