Yup. Well, I think it's still going to be a little longer than that before they're walking, and they don't pretend as much with me. But yes.

He does not ask 'are you sure'?

Okay.

Most things I could do about it would hurt them worse, and I've done the rest. It's important that they get to choose how to handle things. Always, after trauma, but especially here.

Yeah. Especially since he thinks we're all the Enemy, it will not help things to have us steering him around.

Mmhmm.

He leans back against the wall and looks at Maitimo desperately, like he's trying to see something else entirely, and sings.

She snuggles up next to him, and sighs, and listens.

He closes his eyes, too, and wishes it were real.

She's not going to ask Findekáno to leave, at least of her own accord; she can pull an all-nighter if she needs to.

But after a few hours he says I should get back.

And she uncurls from beside him and gives Maitimo a second to respond to this before offering her hand.

And they go back.

They do. She hugs him. Are you going to be okay?

Of course. 

Okay. She walks with him back to his family, or his tent. See you in the morning.

See you then.

One more hug, and she goes home.

He has not moved.

She settles near him, not in arm's reach but close to it. You okay?

Yes of course! Thanks for bringing my cousin by, it was lovely. Any luck with magic?

Mmhmm. She lies down, ending up in a position where she can't see his face. The tribe we found has a new mage, and its Speaker is a good one for helping with this, I expect we'll be able to get all three of the spell forms we want.

Oh, good! And it must be nice to talk to your friends again.

Yeah. Bittersweet. I can probably see them next summer, that'll be nice.

I'm glad. Do you want to tell me about them?

Sure. And she does. The Speaker who is a goblin, who's lived with their tribe longer than any kobold has been alive and makes candy and regales them with stories from outside the forest and calls them all silly names. The one they found, the eldest of the Speakers, bitter now about outsiders, but still carrying the brightest memories from before, when curiosity was safer - they fought, she and them, but she always knew they cared. These two, siblings, just a year apart in age, Speakers for the same tribe all through the war, and the last to be separated after it; they still finish each others' sentences and Speak for each other just as often as for themselves. The Speaker who warned them about the hexes, still alive, badly scarred, but somehow still the most jovial of the group. The shyest, their best lorekeeper, who always wanted every detail about her trips to the tigerfolk. And on through the whole thirteen, until she's falling asleep, telling about the last.