Broken Boulder what will you dream of tonight, lady rachel?

it does not, thankfully, take much for delight to cotton on. lily had never struck him as verbally reticent -- and the exaggerated gestures she's using to communicate paint the picture pretty well. he'd not known she was hurt when she got back. or .. whatever is causing her to  not speak. 

delicately he doesn't react, only nodding as she seems to accept her apology. this is tricky for him -- words are delight's forte, being, as he is, someone dedicated to preserving oral history. nonverbal communication he is not so good with. he watches her raise her eyebrows and gesture towards him, and takes a guess: "been busy with um, the puppies," he says. pausing, he adds, "i can -- tell you about them, if you want?" he's not a very gushing parent -- but it'd save her from having to try to say too much, and i dunno, maybe she's into babies.