Neverwinter Forest the beach, the way the water felt-

Her friend gave a slow shake of his head, and Huā awaited his words with breath held stiffly in her lungs. Cupid is dead. Huā thought of the moment she'd met the dark fellow the other day, a fairly quiet presence who had experienced the same violence from the saints as Mal. He'd been one of the other... bearers of Mal's children, for a lack of better term in Huā's mind. And now he was dead?! The empress had never really met him in a way personal enough to grieve- rather a heavy guilt settled over her, thinking of how she'd merely regarded him as competition for being at Mal's side. Sure, she'd wanted Cupid to go... somewhere else and make it easier for her to get what she wanted. But she never wished for him to go this far. 

The second was equally bad- the kid wasn't confirmed dead, but he was a child, and Mal's own blood. Huā released a shallow breath, unsure what to say. What could be done? There was no bringing the dead back to life- but the child, he could still be found. The siren tried to imagine losing her son. The thought nearly made her sick; she couldn't imagine what kind of pain he was going through- and with little prior experience with situations of comforting others' grief, Huā couldn't imagine what sort of words could be conjured to repair his spirits. Sometimes spirits couldn't be repaired at all. There was no rushing grief... and Mal would have to go through it, but the least she could do was let him know that he wasn't alone in the world- even if Huā hadn't known Cupid like he had, she was still here as a shoulder for Mal to lean on. The siren bent down and laid beside him, applying a sorry little lap to his cheek if allowed, quiet and unsure. I want to be here for you. Emotionally. She couldn't stay with him in the forest, not when she had her pack all awaiting their return... as much as she wished she could, especially at a hard time like this. If you want to talk, I will listen. If you need something from me, tell me, and I will try to help. It would've been nice to be able to offer an I love you too, if that could possibly provide any warmth into a cold time... but she was still hesitant to say such a thing, and wondered if it was wrong to speak something so personal in his moment of grief. She didn't want to bombard him with questions, definitely not in his state, and thus rather than asking after whether he'd sent scouts, she made a personal note to go scouting on her own if his son wasn't home by her next visit. Cupid was not something she could even try to fix- and that fact was almost frustrating. It was hard to know what to do, besides staying with him for now and offering her ears.