Mayerling smiles softly at Sharon. This close, it's harder not to notice the physical signals that always provide some context. It's one of the interesting aspects of living among people, all the little day to day information he cannot help but know. Sharon drowns out that ocean of information, so close and connected. Her hitched breathing, the elevated rhythm to her heart, the very chemicals released into her system and the way they affect her internal organs. It's all so much but in the end comes down to one simple truth: Mayerling understands how she feels.

"You're welcome," Mayerling says, his deep voice thick with emotion. So little in so few words, but surely it nears enough.

Pinning her hand against her chest, Mayerling straightens his hand where it is over her heart. "You need not use words, Sharon," he tells her, "I can feel it."

For a moment, Mayerling stands there, Sharon's huge waves of emotion making him all the more comfortable and safe feeling in his. Then he adds, "You may burn with the fury of a thousand suns yet too as warm as dappled sunlight on a winter's day. You contain as much kindness as hatred. You need so strongly you yearn, though it may rarely be satisfied. You are a multiplicity of emotion, and I accept and care for all of it, for all of you. You astound me."

His smile below sparkled damp eyes shines true.