Not the exercise you thought it was

His lips curved into a half smile, but he stopped and stepped back. “I have children you know, Iris. Eigh… Seven of them.” A flicker, gone again, shaken off. “Five of which are girls, but, as you wish.” he agreed, pushing through his stumble. He put the brushes into her reach, and then moved even further back. Taking a seat with his back to her to help with some of the uncertainty he could hear in her.

He looked up at the skies, leaning back to appreciate them properly. “And two grandkids, too. As obsessed with the stars as their mother is. You’ll likely see those two scampering about. Full of trouble and mischief and love. “ He spoke to put her at ease, and because these two children were easy to talk about. In them, he could see children that did not know loss, did not understand pain. They were just filled with wanderlust and hope. It was easier to talk about them here, in the place his sister had built. A woman he did not know the fate of. Was Io still alive? So long since he had seen her last. So many holes in his heart. No room for another that might one day put a hole there.

"Speech"