he closed his eyes and thought of his mother bending over him as he lay in his little bed ( how soon before he had been promoted from the cradle he did n't know , but surely not long ) , her face a patchwork of colors from the nursery windows , gabrielle deschain who would later die at those hands which she caressed so lightly and lovingly with her own ; daughter of candor the tall , wife of steven , mother of roland , singing him to sleep and dreams of those lands only children know .