Noctisardor Bypass Sitting here underneath the bridge

heda didn't need anything from anselm. she'd told herself a thousand times those very words, even when they came choked with shame over how he had touched her, and how she had let him.
"hello, anselm."
she remembered the caress of amadeo's paw and felt certainly that such kindness could only come from that direction. and yet she dreaded.
penitent once more, reduced to the sackcloth that apparently her lord wished her to wear, the widow sat back beside anselm in the glorious honeyed light and closed her eyes.
in her voice, a hymn rose, nearer my god to thee, in a soprano she kept light as it scudded the top of buttercups and sent a pair of mourning doves to their coos.
not much, only the chorus itself; heda told herself she needed no reaction from anselm and so did not look for it, did not even glance to see if he had hated her singing; she took the moment for herself and experienced a gentle welling of peace.