Sleepy Fox Hollow brimming and broken and somehow

mahler relaxed against phaedra as well. her question surprised and desperate-lined the man for a moment [mdash[ but he would not be dragged back into such a morass again. he meant to set his sights forward. "the first time ve met, she laughed at me." 
how arrogant and bombastic he had been at her borders, offering himself like a gigolo —! but that was definitively not for the ears of his snowflower. perhaps not even for his sake, more for that of wylla. how would she feel about his memories now?
"i deserved her laughter. i vas very arrogant. she put in my place and there i feel i have alvays been, and villingly so." dishonesty? misrembering? the mien of a man who feels so much more aged than his years? one and all, maybe, and mahler allowing himself the pollen-yellow dancing of something lighter in his spirit.
mahler felt fiercely and again that they should not have left sagtannet. and yet — thade.
"love does not alvays need to be as hard as i have made it look," he said softly.