Duskfire Glacier And the walls keep tumbling down

D:

They stood in silence for a long while, each resting in the comfort of the other and neither willing to pull away just yet. Malachi had forgotten the warmth of an embrace, even one as stricken as the one they shared now. He felt Tuwawi shift, running her touch along his spine, like a mother would her child. The boy would never know the magnitude of her grief, just as he had been unable to comprehend Njal's, and further still that which his own parents had shared. Malachi's heart twisted and he let his eyes close. Their grief had been raw as Tuwawi's, and he had only made their sorrows stronger.

'Me too,' the queen broke the silence and shook Malachi from the isolation of his thoughts. He tried to linger in her embrace a moment longer, wanting her comfort as much as he sought to give his own, but soon she withdrew her warmth and the place where she'd met him turned cold in the frozen air. He settled for the rasp of her tongue across his cheek, and he nudged her back. 'We'll manage.' she finished with an air of finality, and Malachi lowered his head. They were small words, not ones riddled with hope, and not ones blind to the sorrows that had befallen the family. But Malachi trusted there was a light somewhere in these murky waters, and day by day, they would find it. And to Malachi, Tuwawi's return - and her apparent resolve to stay - was the start. He lifted his gentle gaze to meet her, but diverted his eyes, respecting her for the queen she had been before. "Of course. We always do."