Jade Fern Grove lift back and see the darkness hid

mahler would be foolish not to read the scroll of her silent appeal, or what he took to be such. and it would have been an untruth to say that he had not considered it — again, after all the mad dash of the previous year, another attempt for peace and for familial normality.
another cough; mahler fading briefly into his own embarassment.
"it depends upon how you vant to raise them," mahler said softly, simply. "this year i told those who vanted to be mother to seek outside the border." this was traditional in terms of primality, but not so in the face of the pair-bonds made by their kind. "i had thought that it vould be vintersbane, for you." candid in return.