Ouroboros Spine panik

He stood by the sprawling red tree, more gold in the present and brilliant, but he did not see the beauty there. He saw Vaire coming closer and his heart screamed, Ariadne!

And when she spoke, he was silent. He did not know what to say, and could barely look to her for a time.

When he managed words, he said in his low, roughened voice, Doe Woman. The children - ? He wondered if she had grown protective of them, or like a mother to them, in his absence - and now the absence of their lost mother.