Noctisardor Bypass And emptiness is all you know.

elke. a tightness climbed the length of mahler's cheek. he looked away, unable to even offer ciri a bracing word. elke, out somewhere in the world. would she also return? was she able? had ciri alone been blessed with some darkened luck that brought her back to a life once left behind?
"yes," was all he managed for a moment, one blistered aching syllable spoken more for himself than for his returned lioncub. 
the sting of tears against his eyes. mahler forced himself not to close.
he saw the quake of her shoulders, sorrow drying beneath worry. "vere you sick at all, in the vilds, ciri?" he asked, tone filled with a quiet urgency.