Ah, yes, better now.

It has been some time since this form has stretched his legs--how long, he wonders--and when he wakes he expects to find Essetia at his side. Will she be warm and familiar, still wet from the heart's falls, or will she be gone?

No, she is gone. Of course, what a fool the protector is to believe that such feelings could have been anything more than fleeting. He has missed so much, and he has forgotten that his host has found a new love, no, an old love, and made a family with her. Perhaps he never knew.

But whatever the circumstances, he wakes in the deep woods many days before this with his body under unfamiliar white feathers and a colt, standing in an awkward state of pain, by his side.

"Are you alright?" the protector asks the boy quietly and by way of waking under that familiar dark canopy.

And "no," the boy says with solemnity. Anaan understands that the child has never understood the concept of no, really, until then.

Manhattan is happy to see the protector, but Anaan will not go deeper into that old joy of a bond when he knows it isn't his. Still, he exhales softly on the retriever, noting her scarred side with concern, eyeing the burns with worry. They nuzzle each other, they greet the old days with familiarity. It is no secret that the protector is a better man than his host, that he was once a long time ago even a better father. Perhaps this is why he emerges, now.

But the little one doesn't recognize him, and he does not feel it is his place to explain. They walk together, strangers, the colt trusting him with an implicitness that is almost frightening. Days later, when they reach the shore and have learned much more about each other, they look out over the water and consider the situation.

"That's a long swim," Anaan says to the boy, lips stretching with a faint yawn brought on by journeying. Already, he is too tired for this fight.

"Yes," says the boy.

"Perhaps we should turn back," he says, turning to catch his own eyes on Milo's sharp ones. Manhattan paws at the water, already wishing to swim, but awaits further commandments.

"No," says the boy.

"Are you certain, Milo?"

A pause. "Yes," says the boy, though Anaan is not sure that Milo understands the full gravity of that agreement.

"Stay with me, I will teach you," says the protector as he and Manhattan flank the pained child, escorting him slowly across the water and closer to the opposite shore.

I will teach you what your father cannot do.