Hushed Willows [m] Never gonna allocate all of this dark hate

She was overcome with self-loathing even as she tried to numb herself to all feeling. What had she ever touched that she didn't destroy in the end? Even Everett, even Tybault; her own brothers had seen only madness and selfish sorrow in her, and they too had abandoned her then. And she would never be more than this.

She wondered sometimes if Boone looked at her and saw their future, saw her content and tucked 'round a child with dark eyes and fur like a midwinter dawn. She wondered if he understood that it would never be such a perfect picture. Not for her. Reverie desperately wanted to give him children, but was she even fit to be a mother? Blossom descended more into her sorrow with each day, so like her father that Reverie had begun to withdraw from her. She couldn't watch it happen. Not again. Not again.

And now she had done something unforgivable. Or at least, she couldn't forgive herself. Never, she would never —

Wayfarer's voice startled her from her spiral. Reverie only blinked at her for a moment, slow to process the playful comment while her sense of reality shifted to adjust for the sudden realization that she was not alone. Oh, right. Ducks. She giggled softly, her gaze following Wayfarer's out to the water.

Then the tears started to well in her eyes. Reverie tried to wipe them away discreetly. Um, Her voice wavered, a little thick with emotion in spite of her attempt at normalcy. Do - do you like it here? So far? Reverie stole an anxious glance at Wayfarer, truly invested in the answer. Hearthwood was — it was Boone's dream more than hers, if she was honest. She would have been content to stay at Kvarsheim, or even Akashingo. But she wanted her friends to be happy here, and for Boone's sake, she wanted the pack to thrive.