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Jacth was not what one would call happy. Oh, he was relieved, of course. J'aro was safe. And he was not so selfish as to wish he'd been the one to save him, though, of course, he'd wanted to.

It was only that, he knew, or could pick up from his bonded, that it had not been a good hatching. People had been hurt. People had died. And it was his fault. Perhaps not entirely, but he had been there, in an egg, and they had come to see him hatch. And J'aro had done his best, but people had still gotten hurt. That was hard for him to swallow, that people could still get hurt.

Even when you tried.

And, then, of course, there was Emaleth. Who was in the same room with him. Where Jacth certainly didn't want him. And, simultaneously, he didn't want not to want him there, as that wasn't very nice at all. It was only, Emaleth was-- terrible.

No. Bad. No. Umm-- his young brain struggled yet to find a suitably neutral word. He was uncomfortable. Yes.

He made Emaleth uncomfortable, lessening the pleasure that should have come from being near His. Who, for that matter, was not particularly happy either.

Mine? I'm sorry.

And A'tsu gathered the young dragon into his huge arms as he settled onto the edge of the bed as if Jacth were a large and awkward canine. It's fine. Everything will be fine.

"I am tired, 'yne. It was too much," he said. Which wasn't much of a response, but for now, the feelings ran so deep and messy, he had no way to articulate them. Even to Kaeyne. K'yne.

Everything had changed. He'd known it would. Knowing was different from experiencing. And then, Emaleth's voice, articulating just how final the change was. One and only. Again.

How many one and only's could one man have?

You are correct that he will not stand again. Jacth replied, carefully. Nor will Yours.

Like Emaleth, he projected so that all in the room might here him. It would be rude not to include the entire family.

Not that Emaleth was family. Except as a clutchmate. And as the bonded of his bonded's Other. Jacth didn't quite have the depth of understanding on his first day alive to quite puzzle out the intricacies of that relationship. Maybe after some sleep. Tomorrow.

I am still mad at you. The brown's response could almost be called 'prim', his mindvoice polite but clipped. He was, in point of fact, more than a little mad at the bronze. He probably always would be. But he was trying not to be. It wasn't easy. You might apologize. To the Whitemaster, and his dragon.

Mind, that'd be a bit more difficult than Jacth currently realized, not having been informed of the death of the Whitemaster's dragon. It was best that he didn't know. The news would have broken his tiny, newly-hatched heart.

Yet, if there was sorrow there Jacth couldn't be completely miserable, even if it felt appropriate. He'd just found His and A'tsu's arms were wrapped around him, holding him safe, warm, and close. He was not as happy as he wanted to be, in this moment, but he'd found His. That made everything better.

A'tsu too, hung between misery and joy, between completion and fear. Here was his dragon. Here was his lover. Here was his partner's dragon.

It was everything that was supposed to happen. It was how things were meant to be right.

He closed his eyes, leaning toward K'yne though not exactly on him. His words, when he finally spoke, were slightly reproachful. "No, I should have held you. You should not have run," and then, more quietly. "The way they screamed-- disappearing between. 'yne, I could not lose him. Or you."

"How am I to watch you both?"

It is not a matter of understanding, Emaleth. Jacth responded, not projecting this time. The brown was good with subtleties and could understand, without too much struggle, that Emaleth's attitude was not deliberately offensive. That didn't make it any less so, though. The bronze's very mindvoice ran the wrong way across Jacth's hide.

He was a good dragon, or he wanted to believe he was. He loved his rider. He loved his clutchmates. Yes, even Emaleth, if only because he felt it his obligation to love him.

He was not a good liar, though. And if he was capable of puzzling out the subtleties of situations, that didn't mean he was willing to respect them. What he might have said, most appropriately, was that he would never dream of running off.

What he said instead, was You were right to run and help. Mine, you must not hold people back from duty. Me, either.

A'tsu had expected the dragon to say something of the sort. There minds were still too closely twinned with the earliness of the bond. Jacth's thoughts were practically his own.

Still, K'yne was near. Near and nearer and making promises and it would be so lovely if such things helped. If he was willing, to trust such things. He had been once. A young boy, but a trusting one. It was harder now. If you were A'tsu, you only believed so blindly once. Oh, he was devoted to K'yne with an unwavering, unyielding loyalty.

But he did not, necessarily, expect the same from K'yne. K'yne who now had Emaleth to think about as well. A'tsu was not jealous of the dragon. But he was aware of him, as he was of Jacth. Aware that whatever else happened, things had changed. Things did change. There was no stopping them.

"I will not give you the chance," he said, which was true, if hyperbolic. He didn't lie to K'yne, even when it might be comfortable to do so. He had that in common with Jacth. He pushed the dragon onto the bed then, twisting and adjusting so that he could lean his back against the wall and pull K'yne toward him. "It will be very different for us, soon."

To understand something is not necessarily to approve of it, Emaleth. Jacth replied, but nonetheless, he followed his brother to the head of the bed, settling there, though not in any manner that could be called 'cuddly'. If anything, he looked like he was doing his best to share space while keeping the two of them from coming into contact in any way.

He was quiet, at first, studying his brother with eyes that whirled green with only the slightest hints of yellow hinting at the anxiety that had not left him. Yet, here was a clutchmate. A misguided one yes, but one who had asked something of him. It would be wrong to simply ignore Emaleth, even if the bronze's request was less than genuine. If we speaking of colors, we must talk of your own hide. And how it entitles you to no more or less than anyone else. We are what we do.

A'tsu's kept one arm wrapped around his partner, reaching up with the other to gently run his fingers through K'yne's hair. He seemed to find the gesture soothing, some small amount of tension finally leaving him. Green, the firelizard that had hatched only a few days before Jacth, appeared above them and settled on top of Jacth, who gave her a curious look, but did not otherwise respond.

"I don't know," A'tsu admitted. And maybe he should have explained further. But A'tsu wasn't an explainer. "But things will change."