Chapter 318 - Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen - Pink Lines

Willow gathered the scattered toys slowly, almost absentmindedly. A small wooden giraffe lay on its side near the sofa, its painted spots chipped from countless falls. She picked it up, turned it upright, and set it carefully back into the basket with the rest of Zana's animals. The movement was simple, familiar, one of the hundred small gestures that now made up the quiet architecture of her days. There was something steadying in it, something that asked nothing of her except presence. For a few moments she let herself stay inside that simplicity, her hands moving while her mind drifted elsewhere.