Sawtooth Spire when i've always been distant, and i've always told lies for love

So much of the world remained just out of Stag's reach. It likely would remain that way, given his tendency to stick close to the hearth. He found he did not grieve this; he was sure the world out there was wild and wonderful, but it was also wickedly cruel.

Sensing a tinge of regret in Mahler's voice, Stag sniffed the raked mark left in the leader's wake. "Are you happy here?" He had always found Mahler to be an enigma -- as he got older and somewhat wiser (or at the very least, capable of introspection and observation), he found himself observing that Mahler seemed a man bound down by sorrowfully heavy chains.