softly

adverb3

1. •
   In a soft manner; gently.

   • The masseuse was rubbing my back too softly for my liking, so I asked her to go harder.
2. •
   quietly, in a way that can only just be heard
3. •
   With subdued color; faded or misty with distance.

   • And they sat very still, the two of them, and looked out over that great, beautiful desert—away to the home mesa that they could see, softly blue, in the distance. — 1928