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He isn’t very smart. I don’t want to accidentally make him feel bad if he takes it the wrong way.

She also didn’t want to prolong a conversation he already mentioned he didn’t like.He must still be grieving. Loss for humans is difficult to accept, so I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for a Duskwalker.

And, coupled with the fact he’d recently gone through a terrible ordeal back in Zagros Fortress, Emerie could only guess how messed up his mind was.

The fact he was gentle with her at all was a miracle.

She chewed her bottom lip and her eyes crinkled in sympathy for his anguish.

I want to make him feel better, though.

Ingram wished his chest would stop hurting. Why did it have to feel physical? Like a part of him was missing just as much as his kindred, his...twin.

There was a wound just below the surface, right where his heart was. It was cold, like a ball of ice had grown there to replace it so he didn’t bleed out.

If it wasn’t for the little female on his back, he would have attempted to claw at his flesh and dug until he removed it.

He tried to focus on her, on the warmth of her, the weight of her, how she stroked his neck. He tried to take in her pretty scent, or her little fluttering heart, the comfort of her breath.

When that didn’t help, he looked for something around them to take his mind off the unbearable ball of ice. The smell of the grass and dirt, the sap of trees. There were a few small skittering animals, and even a squawk of a bird.

Nothing was strong enough to distract him, or to settle the liquid floating in front of his sight that constantly blocked his vision.

A whimper rattled out of him, seizing at his lungs.

“Ingram,” Emerie softly called, but he refused to answer.

He didn’t want to talk about this... about Aleron... anymore.It hurts too much.

So, he searched for something he could question her about. Anything.

“Hey, can you let me down for a moment?” she asked, and he shook his head in response.

He worried if he put her down, the loss of her warmth would freeze him entirely.

It didn’t matter. She found a way to safely slide off him, and he halted so he could face her. Just as he was about to grab her and throw her back on top of him, she reached her arms out to him.

His head reared back when her hands came up near his skull, unsure of what she was doing. Then she slipped her palms over his shoulders, around the nape of his neck and into the small amount of fur there, before her arms crossed behind the base of his skull. She pulled herself up until her chin was resting on his shoulder, while his beak sat on top of hers.

“What are you doing?”He wondered if she might be trying to choke him.

“It’s called a hug. Doesn’t it feel nice?” she whispered in return, soft-spoken andkind.

It... did.

Ingram placed a hand on her waist, unsure of what he was supposed to do in return. The moment he made contact with her, she leaned forward until her chest was pressing against the top of his own bowed forward one.

A desire to bring her closer nipped at his entire being, from the encompassing way her essence brushed over him. It ate at him, called to him.

He didn’t care if he wasn’t supposed to wrap his entire arm around her and shove her against him, but he couldn’t stop himself. When she started to dip underneath his body while he stood on three limbs, he leaned back and sat with his knees bent, his feet pressed firmly flat, and his tail curled to the side to balance him.

Ingram took her with him, and the changing of positions made her body lay flush with his torso. Her heat radiating through him burned at the frozen ball in his chest, like she was trying to melt it away herself.

With one arm curled around her until he was threatening to claw at her stomach, he wrapped the other across her back until he was gripping her hip.

He squished her against him until she was completely between his knees and huddled himself around her entire form.

And, when she turned her head and buried her face against the side of his neck while tightening her arms around him, something inside him slithered into place. His sight closed and blackened as he took her in completely, allowing all of Emerie to thaw him.