Ichta was still standing on the ledge when Aurinkoth returned, waiting to greet him as he came down to land. His head butted into her chest as she leaned into her lifemate, laying her head against his forehead and stroking one of his cheeks soothingly. There was no doubt about the feeling that flowed off of him. It was hurt in a different way from when he’d lost his blue brother. She wouldn’t say it was as deep, but it was sharp and cut in a different way. It curled up in her chest, an ache she was almost familiar with.

She’d never been forced to feel it so deeply. Her love had been reciprocated even before she could call it what it was. Never had Ichta worried another would take him away from her, even when he wasn’t hers. The pain that settled in now was unbearable. Shouldering it, Ichta leaned all of the love she could muster up into Aurinkoth - and it was a lot more than she’d ever been expecting to be.

That was really how she felt about a lot of things involving herself recently.

It’s OK. Aurinkoth assured, his innate sunshine creeping into their bond even through the heavy weight that wanted to sink him. She does not have to be mine, even though I am hers, more and more of his positive energy flowed from him, trying to scoop up the weight he’d forced into his beloved’s chest. Oh, this was a feeling he didn’t want for her! It was his! He didn’t want to share that! The attempt didn’t make Ichta feel much better.

Aurinkoth lifted his head from her chest to nudge at her cheek, crooning sweetly. Do not be sad, myIchta. I am not sad for it. I will love her and she will be mine in a way that she is nobody else’s...and I am quite lucky for that! There is no blue luckier in Pern! As he began to bolster his own mood, filling up with sunshine to burn away the sorrow, he also began to bolster up his bonded. He could not be happy if she was not.

I just don’t want you to hurt. Ichta urged - he was the most important thing about her. He was her and the one thing about herself and in herself she could love without fail and without wavering. Aurinkoth was the love within herself, G’ran was the love she could give outside of herself. The two gave her a balance she never had before.

She, in turn, had to give the blue all of the balance in his life he could ever need, even as she mustered up more love to give him. He continued to lean his face into hers, surges of adoration flooding back into her.

I will be fine, am I not always? This will not be a sorrow that buries me. Love cannot make me sad forever, can it? he made more attempts to soothe his bonded’s worries, and it seemed to be enough for now, the tightness in Ichta’s chest easing. No, she couldn’t tell him not to love her, when he so clearly and deeply did.

How about we go to the lake in the morning to relax, then? she asked. A day of play would be perfect for both of them.

She’d just need to trust in his hearts that he was right.