Sunset Valley seltsam

come, she bid, and after a moment's resistance, mahler allowed himself to be held.
a shuddering rush of breath outward; he sagged against ketzia, wending her closer for the sheer fact that he had been starved for an affectionate touch.
"vhere did you go?" he asked faintly, echoing something he would in the time to come ask thade. 
the last they had met; he thought guiltily of it, for any woman's nearness crossed over what he felt for wylla. it seemed a betrayal. improper.
and so at last he broke their connection, but hovered close in the shared warmth between their wintertime pelts. "did you find your happiness, ketzia?"