"It wasn't a grunt." Words were troublesome. He didn't have difficulty expressing himself - it just seemed like the capacity in which they knew how to express themselves in was never quite good enough to describe adequately what he was thinking, or how he felt.
Her touch was familiar even though everything else barely was. Should that have been a comfort, or something to add to the curse?
Pursing his lips, he tilted his head a little, her fingers barely moving from their resting place on his cheek.