Wheeling Gull Isle healing prayers

it felt good to be held. it felt so good that she began to fear it; like anyone who had been repeatedly hurt, heda knew that the signalling of good things could often spell more harm.
the first minutes of contact passed under her sniffling, but when bartholomew fit her against him and her head beneath his, heda stiffened. she was not truly resistant, and at last lay her head against him. 
in the thicket of his long and glossy hair, she found a sublime sort of peace. and it was here she pondered what he had said: bad things happened to everyone and bad things should not define anyone.
heda kept her muzzle tucked where it was, voice and breath muffled as she asked: "does god ever leave you?"