Noctisardor Bypass bedauert

mahler expected little and wanted nothing, truly, but the weight of her apology tore at him. as if she should have been the one to speak first! in his heart, he had been the one to transgress many times. she had only become reactive to him, to the way his action and his word did not align on the same plane.
but to hear it reminded him of the deep and abiding love that had dragged him stranglehold since he had left her with stag in the midst of her season. and the insult he had given her even then! to suggest that she would couple with the boy, as if her need for children and a legacy outweighed all his own selfishness toward that end.
but ahler did not think it would be appropriate to deny wylla the chance toward a step forward. he only set his ears back, pressed his scarred muzzle forward to brush her cheek, lingering openly and with a new sort of overwhelming hope.
"as am i." for all of it, for everything he knew he had done, and all the things he had not meant to do, but had been done anyway. a swallow threatening his throat, and behind it, the ghost of a cough that pulled mahler back from wylla to a polite head-turn.
when it was finished, he returned his attention to her, apologetic, but with the newness of their words lightening his stoneflower eyes.