Noctisardor Bypass I keep trying to let you go

literally thought to myself "i need to post w mahler" welp <3

laurel's sides showed now.
he kept from her unless she called for him, which he did not expect most days. mahler did not think her wounded soul would allow him so close as to whelp the children either.
and so mahler made a note of where he crossed her path, and where she was most likely to be found. he forbade the notion that she would sequester herself somewhere in this bypass, and die some untimely death in childbed. laurel deserved his diligence, even if he could not give her his love.
it was along one such evening foray that mahler was summoned by the crack of thunder from an unknown throat. 
the graf did not quicken his step, but made his way along the paths until he came to the single sandstone entrance, and looked at who had summoned him.
a gigantic brindled man and his equally hardbuilt companion.
the lavender gaze was cool, observant. in his usual fashion, mahler did not speak first.