The absence of his touch was noted, his skin almost cold where those fingers had been. It was necessary, he understood that, but that didn’t make it any better. He wanted it bad already, wanted those fingers against his skin, a reminder of what they were. Once, in the future.

Essek finished the chest bandages, and the took the cut length. A soft and appreciative Thank you was breathed across his lips, before he held the wounded arm and straightened it. He started to wind the bandage around the mage’s limb, looking at old scars and new ones as he did. Fingers brushing long healed marks, something he could play as an accident even if there was no such thing.

“And I worry for you.” His eyes flickered up for a second, before back down at that bandages. “You have….made yourself special to me, regardless of my own avoidance in the beginning.”

There was a soft little laugh under his breath.

“I would do anything to make certain you are safe.”