"Not at all," she tells him. "You feel nice, comforting, sprawled on top of me." Perhaps in part because his weight on her is proof that he hasn't left her, isn't out breaking her heart, though she's not consciously aware of that.

He is falling asleep in Kreyu's arms, the Goddess's arms! Surely, out of all the possibilities he considered when he set out this morning, this wasn't one of them? And yet, it feels RIGHT, as if this is exactly where he is supposed to be.

They drift off to sleep, safe, sound, wrapped up in one another. Her scent is in his nose, her breath and her heartbeat in his ears, the warmth of her body under his.