"I think I can handle it."

"Okay."

He can stop holding himself back, then. That'll make his life easier.

"Thank you. If you change your mind, I can go back to—" the phrase that comes to mind is 'stifling myself' and he chooses not to say it because the connotations are wrong, it sounds resentful and he isn't at all, but he can't think of a coherent alternative and Maitimo will have heard him think it so he just trails off with a shrug.

"If your magic becomes a problem for our relationship it seems itself inclined to solve that."

"Well. There is that, yeah."

"I prefer people not be worse off for knowing me."

Awwwwwww.

He smiles.

"I love you."

"Yes, I know."

Raika-seren giggles delightedly.

(And another reason why all this is worth it - after adjusting to this baseline, if Maitimo ever does love him, it's going to be a rush the likes of which no other Taliar may ever experience.)

"You feeling better?"

He considers the question.

Still pretty fucked up, but less so, and contained to the point where he doesn't even notice it most of the time. And meanwhile he is proud and happy and in love. Overall, he is doing all right.

"Come over here."

"Okay."

He gets up and goes over there. And yep, he's still pretty fucked up, but he's also still handling it. He is afraid but he is okay.

He pulls him onto his lap and runs a hand through his hair and considers him.

And Raika-seren sits and leans on him comfortably and takes uncomplicated joy in the way Maitimo's hand feels in his hair.

And after a few minutes he says "do you need introductions to people or can you find them on your own?"

"I wouldn't turn down introductions, but left to my own devices I don't have any trouble making friends."

"Alright." And he lets him go and leaves.

Well. Okay. He goes back to his room and goes to sleep.

He's feeling much better in the morning. He goes to work and this time doesn't stop himself from showing interest in the lives of the people around him.

And that afternoon, Corino shows up and would like to speak to the King.

That can be arranged.

"It's not quite a power to make you permanently magically untraceable," he says. "But it's a power that prevents you from being traced through, or located within, the world Elaneth-imire's soul is in or any adjacent one. If you moved Independence to somewhere one hop past Tivarante's Arda, the peal would not be able to find it even if they randomly hopped into the correct world, as long as Elaneth-imire was at home with his husband at the time they were looking. And if you moved farther away than that but still kept Nuime and Tivarante's Arda between you and the peal, they still wouldn't be able to track you through those worlds or their neighbours unless you went out and were followed home all while Elaneth-imire was elsewhere."

"Thank you. That sounds useful. I will take Independence back home with you, I think."

"All right. By default, residents of Independence can find it, and so can I and Shadow-cloaked Nezhefena, but no one else can. I'm sure Elaneth-imire's soul could allow him to find you if it wanted to, but for now it isn't. Feel free to suggest a different set of permissions and I can pass it along to Elaneth-imire."

"That sounds adequate. Will Taliar's mother not want to visit him?"

"She assumes she would be unwelcome."