Even now, he detached himself. Even now, he watched her with the wariness of a man who was used to war. Her fit seemed to pass as she gained control, and here he recognized that she had perhaps taken heed of his words. She would remain weak as long as she left herself open. Talitha was not yet hardened like her brother, but her brother had been trained by warriors and by the wild. She had been cut deep young and never truly recovered from that most grievous wound.
His face remained an obelisk wall, but his eyes darkened with the hurt of losing everything he had once cherished. Gabriel could pretend well, and he did; but while he could cut out the fear for his family, he could never cut out the loss. “Yes,” he said quietly, rising to his feet fully and moving towards the entrance. “I picked this cave so we’d always have room. I managed to fill it up though,” he added, albeit it without much emotion. He did not expect, nor want, his children to come into his home if they had their own. He had grown used to the silence.
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