The Sunspire schweigen

between NORTHSTAR VALE and RAZORBACK  RIDGE. set directly after this.

he could not immediately remove himself to home, but linger in the vale he did not. mahler roamed up toward the sharp peak that was all but insurmountable — he paused in the distant shadow of it to pause, and to breathe. aurëwen remained with him, tendriled in his ruff, worked into his musculature; the sensation of her hips was something wrought in his mind, a torment, perhaps a regret.
he would not dwell upon it now. mahler's heart was a millstone, his countenance downtrodden. in these empty spaces he was allowed his waves of primitive hurts, and they came with viciousness, washing across him until he leant wearily against the stone wall of a ledge that arced up and up and up, providing a shadowed place wherein the gargoyle might crouch and grieve stigmata with the fullness of his being.