"It is a pleasant day for a walk, I will agree," Peony replied quietly. She recognized the clearing, though the trees were now devoid of the majority of their leaves and the grass had browned. The last time they had been here, it had been a happy day. Today was less happy, perhaps, but no less necessary.
She did not tell Ade all that was in her mind, that the dreamhare was something of a symbol for Ridley, and that she could see the scholar desperately looking for means -- any means -- of moving on from a tragedy that still gripped her. Peony could understand the place from whence the desire came; she, too, felt the ache of her mother's absence when she thought of it, for all that her own loss had come over two decades ago.
They stopped at the edge of the clearing, and Ridley continued on alone. "She will be all right," she confirmed. Ridley was stronger than she looked, if not in the traditional ways. "It will, I think, do her more good than harm in the long run."