Redtail Rise buoyant

was she crying? ancelin didn't understand, but he wanted to comfort her. "no," the boy disagreed softly. "i'm just good enough." he meant it as a joke, but suddenly the weight of his entire birth family having walked out on him felt it was crushing the inside of his chest yet again.
and so without preamble, and carefully, ancelin reached out to lilia again, meaning to lay his chin over her head if she allowed.
something was threatening the sanctity of his own eyes, and so he shut them, drawing a long breath that shuddered at the end.