Blacktail Deer Plateau i can't escape the way i love you

He welcomed her touch and the feeling of connection that sparked across his skin, the warmth that only his wife had ever shown to him. Rewarding Mou, the undeserving, with love and loyalty and (as hard as it was sometimes to think about) family.

It had become difficult for Mou to separate himself from the remaining children. He loved them as his own; try as he might to keep a healthy distance emotionally, the man fell victim to the weakness of his own heart. As Maegi made her initial request, Mou drew in a sharp breath - a piercing sound falling from his throat.

Whatever faith he had to spare for their family was fragile. The foundations quaked with every loss. Maegi was claiming defeat; that their curse could spill over any child they cared for, any being they learned to love, was a calculation Mou could not ignore.

Neither could he accept it.

They're our kids. Shook his voice, his chin dipped against his chest. But they weren't. They both knew the children would be better cared for by Phox, and so Mou could not fight Maegi on that.

He was silent as his wife spoke from the heart, shattering what was left of his.

She meant to give up, wholly? It was one thing to give up their family but to do away with life as well - when they had fought so long and so hard to survive and be together?

Mou couldn't look at her.

He couldn't think, and sank to the dirt in the manner of a marionette whose puppeteer had disengaged from participation.