Noctisardor Bypass Do you like it when I'm away?

"very vell." mahler buried down his feeling of distaste for tours. why had he offered, then? he realized that the first snarl-up had confused him greatly on how to respond, and longed for the silent moments when he could recover and learn to never make such a mistake again.
"ve vill go to birdsong lagoon, mateo," he said gently. "it is a lake who vas named by a voman named laurel." he would set a slow path for the three of them to the vivid waterway, with its trilling of bright birds around the perimeter, where stands of purple flowers flourished in the heat.
"you vill meet her soon."
only that she had been gone far too long, or perhaps it only felt so long given the way that they had parted. 
he caught belatedly the anguish that befell mateo; the tears. 
the other's scent held no sickness, and so the physician must only infer that one of their own was now overcome. he chose to make no recognition lest it shame mateo, and pressed on through a stand of tall elms, noting ciri's reticence.