Stavanger Bay the inner claims i hadn’t breadth to shake

dalia smiled, tucking her chin to her chest for a moment before peering out into the water, silence falling over her even as ford continued to speak. "they're an added bonus," she offered in reply, her attention raising back to his strikingly different gaze. he didn't ask, and maybe he didn't care, but dalia felt compelled to tell him more.

"my mother collects stones, interesting ones from the mainlands-- she calls them gems. she says that some of them contain healing powers, each stone treats a different ailment," she told him, her ears flicking. she was never sure if she believed it or not, but sometimes portia would lay them out and sit with them to relax. it seemed to help calm her mothers anxieties, and so dalia sometimes did the same. 

it was the sheer act of doing it, maybe, that always helped.