Sleepy Fox Hollow Lilac and gooseberries.

mahler's countenance softened; he regarded nyx with a mingling of knowing sorrow and surprise. "i did not know," he murmured softly. how she must have suffered! and though he could not bring himself to tell her the answering tale of his own brood, the gargoyle despite his feeling of awkwardness, reached toward the young woman all the same.
touch — necessary for healing, and mahler was struck by how long it had been since he had felt it from another in a manner unsultry or placating.
the talk of wylla had sprung up to flank his heart with pain again; he did not pull away from it, nor from nyx, desperate to allow the resounding silence its chance at a barrier against such things.