It wasn't the first time he'd found himself up in the night, staring at the ceiling of their weyr and checking to make sure Vera was still there and that he'd not missed anything important - which it felt like could happen at any moment.

There is still some time, is there not? Dormith had caught W'dre all wound up with feelings he could place quite easily. Despite his constant checking to make sure they were quite ready for what was to come, Vera in fact much more ready than W'dre was, he couldn't help the pit in his stomach. The ominous 'when' was the only thing he'd have missed again if he'd the chance to be there for Vedra by some twist of the world. You're as ready as you can be. You haven't left anything to chance that you don't have to.

It would have been annoying, perhaps, if Dormith didn't find it familiar. He'd stood watch over his own clutch with such dedication and concern, dreaming of their futures and who they would find out there waiting. Who each would be. I don't like that there is anything I have to, W'dre admitted to his lifemate, careful to make sure he didn't rouse anybody as he turned onto one side. There were plenty of unknowns and the more he dug out brain-snakes, the more Dormith's presence leaned in to bite their heads off. It simply wouldn't do to worry so and he wasn't about to have any of it. Let there be things you cannot prepare for. I am sure you already know they'll be just as wild as their sister and there is no predicting her, he said it so pointedly that W'dre nearly laughed.

We'll have a small chorus of no someday! he mused. Which of course meant he needed to be around for the choir. Turning onto his other side so he was facing Vera again, he reached out to brush her hair from her face with one hand as he rested on the other arm. It will be best to be more careful, Dormith agreed with the man's silent assessment of himself. He liked to climb things and fell from far too many high places to be safe - and that was just on the ground. They were the habits of a man with a disconnect from the world.

He'd gone from nothing to everything in so short of a time, he almost didn't feel like the same person.

What do you think Morro would have thought of all this? he asked Dormith suddenly - a person who didn't come up often. The only feel the bronze had for the girl was in distant memories and he didn't truly trust his judgment on it all. What do you think your sister would have thought? he asked in place of an answer. W'dre considered it for a moment. Then another.

He could picture himself holding her hand, but if he tried to look at her face, he saw Vera's, or even Vedra's. Both so alive and warm and even with the chaos they seemed to bring came the peace that followed so closely on their heels. Soon he'd be out of hands to hold with. She'd tell me to hold onto them, he finally decided, feeling those little cold fingers slip from his mental grip. A presence to linger, perhaps, but not one to hold so close anymore.

He needed to hold the living close, instead of phantoms.