Sunset Valley I wish I didn't need you to explain

You read my mind, I was literally about to put one up

The silence was necessary.
His heartbeat felt thick in his chest, as though the muscle was pumping tar through his veins. Anger pulsed through him. Disappointment. Anguish. Guilt.
Somehow, he had led her to this point. She was so upset. He could feel her body near him buzzing with a kind of hurt that he didn't completely understand. She had been with Sagtannet for a long time, and Diaspora before that. She had clearly known Mahler and Wylla well, and somehow a single interaction that he had catalyzed caused such a rift that he didn't think it could ever be repaired. He felt terrible. He knew that none of his actions were evidence that he was a bad person, yet he couldn't deny that once again, everything he touched had fallen apart. A toxin had spread from his life right into hers, and now she was drenched in it, and there were no words he could offer to comfort her.
Just like Cella, Takiyok became a vessel for all the bad things in his life. At least she was still alive. At least they were, somehow, unharmed.
The sloping terrain led them into a forest in the valley. The leaves had since dropped from the trees and the ground was coated in the dead and dying. As they walked, their footsteps crunched upon the sullen earth. Rabbits fled from the undergrowth, giving him an idea for what he might do for her later. He knew she likely wasn't hungry at that moment.
We should find shelter, he said, surprisingly calmly. In her moment of need, he needed to be a rock for her to find stability. Everything had turned upside down, and it was his fault.