Adarin smiles. He leans over and snuggles Isabella, making a contented sound. He'll just be here, enjoying her playing with his hair.
He notices, of course. It doesn't bother him, Path can be casual about it. He just won't be, it'll be up to Path to solicit boyfriend pets. Adarin mumbles, "I'm glad me petting Path didn't hurt you."
"How'd you know it wouldn't hurt you?" she asks.
"...Taking apart why it hurt when it was them," says Path, preening back. "I think. There were reasons, once it was - there to look at instead of guessing, and - the reasons aren't there with him - so it wouldn't - and it didn't - and I needed it to not be just them on that - list."
Vernaia nods. "We're so sorry it happened. We - we know why it hurt, with Enathira, and you don't hurt us, because we love you. But we don't think we can do it casually, or for - fun. Not yet, maybe eventually. We're sorry."
"It's okay. Don't be sorry," says Path. Preen, preen. "We're not the same person. It doesn't have to be the same."
"Thank you," she replies. Wingsnuggles. "We love you so. We didn't want to disappoint you."
Nuzzle. "We agree. My Adarin feels guilty because he thinks he could have been faster."
"It still wasn't as long as you waited for us to come for you."
"You didn't know about us. When you learned, you went as fast as you could go. We don't blame you, we never did," says Vern.
"And all you needed was a broken window and a strung bow," says Path. "You didn't leave my Isabella alone. We wouldn't have blamed you but you didn't."
"We couldn't have. Not after knowing what it's like and loving you. We would sooner throw ourselves off a cliff than leave someone we love to that."
She is maybe teasing a little.
"It would be very rude of us when you have gone to such lengths to demonstrate," agrees Path.
Vern snickers. "That wasn't the point of why we did any of it, but... Yes. That. I'll go with that."
Adarin looks between the two birds. "Do I even want to know what you're talking about?"
"It's rude to interrupt daemons' discussions," she says sagely.
"You just look like you're cuddling," drawls Adarin.
"That, too."