Oh man, I was so excited. Getting new books was the coolest thing. [Since it was difficult to come by them in the village and all. Occasionally someone from the village would go out and come back with supplies that Sorey needed but couldn't get from the wilderness around them, and every once in a while they'd return with a book he and Mikleo hadn't yet read.] We were so worried about breaking the bindings whenever we shared them, but we didn't want to read alone so we always squeezed together on the floor.

[Sorey rubs Mikleo's hand, then presses it between his own, folded as if in prayer. He closes his eyes and feels out his bonds with Lailah and Mikleo, stronger for their immediate presence; Lailah, flickering and warm, a banked fire pouring comfort into him all the way to his bones. Mikleo's cool, calm serenity, a feeling Sorey had always thought he'd had around him but had never been able to pinpoint until he made the sublord pact with Lailah. Seraphim. Personifications of the great elements of the world.

His friends.

His loved ones.]

I'm okay, [Sorey murmurs, and takes Mikleo's hand to fold it over his chest, above his heart. His heart had beat as a hellion, he's sure, since underneath it all he was still alive, but it had been a distant and unimportant thing. Sorey hadn't realized how important his heartbeat was until Mikleo fell asleep to the sound of it.] You're okay too, right?