Ethan turned to face him, and Bryn chuckled. “Not like that. Watch me here.” Bryn pressed his finger to his own forehead, between his eyes, as his deep emerald-green Shadows flowed soothingly over them both.
“May I?” Bryn asked and then, when Ethan nodded, he wrapped his Shadows around Ethan’s and carefully sent both Shadows forward. He gently focused them on Kay’s chest, near her heart, toward the mass of entwined Shadow filaments that Ethan had spent hours building.
“Yes,” Bryn murmured. “You were intuitively right to bring back all the missing pieces, but can you see? Not quite enough.”
Ethan had been so consumed by following and finding the missing tendrils, and bringing them back together, that he hadn’t taken much notice of the overall sense of how it fitted. Now, seeing it again, it was obvious that although everything was there, it hadn’t settled.
It was somehow still separate from Kay, and it was already fraying.
He opened his eyes and looked up at Bryn’s kindly, wrinkled face. “It’s missing something.” The words came out as a rough murmur through the tightness in his throat.
“Can you see how the edges are starting to unravel, even just in the few minutes you’ve not been there constantly tending to them?”
Ethan wanted to sink down and unravel himself. She was so still in his arms. Too still. “Yes,” he whispered, “but I don’t know what else to do.”
Bryn put a strong hand on his shoulder and Ethan was filled with a profound feeling of peace and warmth. Of reassurance.
“You were missing one last thing,” Bryn murmured. “What do the very best Healers provide?” he asked.
Ethan thought back to his time as a paramedic, flitting through ideas of competence, skill, experience, and expertise.
Bryn chuckled as if reading his mind. “None of those. It’s something far more fundamental.”
Ethan shrugged, exhausted and devastated that Kay was still not safe.
Bryn watched him, a wry look on his kind face, and then put his free hand back on Kay’s forehead, keeping the other on Ethan’s shoulder as he held her close, forming a triad. “Close your eyes,” he said, “and watch.”
The feeling of warmth and safety emanating from Bryn surged around them both, flooding out and encompassing Kay, and Ethan could feel a wave of love and kindness pouring out toward her, encompassing him as well. And suddenly it made sense.
The part of himself that he’d been holding back for so long, keeping himself safe behind his high protective walls, was the missing piece. He looked deeper, past his thoughts, past his academic understanding and his rationalizations, and added his feelings.
He remembered Kay wrinkling her nose at him. Telling him not to freak out. Drinking beer by his side. He remembered her hanging from the climbing wall, hair fluttering out behind her as she laughed down at him. And what she looked like under him, in his arms, lying in his bed, telling him that she was falling too.
He conjured up everything he had felt for her in that moment: his respect for her, how she made his world feel brighter, more vibrant, more alive. Her strength, her huge heart, and her vulnerability. The depth of feeling that had been growing between them. And then he added those feelings to the wave of warmth around him and Kay.
Slowly, he saw the tangled mess of Shadow threads merge and melt into each other, sinking deeper, melding with her, filled with the soft midnight-blue glow that was the essence of Kay.
She let out a long sigh and, for the first time, her body truly relaxed into his. She turned slightly in his arms, leaning her head against his chest, and then settled, finally, into a natural sleep. Ethan’s fingers shook as he gently pressed against her throat to take her pulse. It was strong and healthy, her breathing steady. Her Shadows fluttered gently, twining unconsciously with his.
He let his head fall back against the couch, tears spilling out, wet on his cheeks. He left them, unwilling to let her go for any reason.
Bryn gave his shoulder one last squeeze. “She’ll be fine. You did well.”
Elizabeth wiped her face and smiled shakily, dabbing at her eyes, while Zach, who had somehow moved to sit on the floor beside them, grinned back tiredly.
Elizabeth leaned over and wrapped Ethan and Kay in her arms, kissing them on their foreheads, before telling Zach to join them in a large cluster of shared relief. They held each other for a long moment, giving each other support, before finally settling back, exhausted but grateful.
Bryn lowered himself into his chair as they moved apart, his clear gaze on Ethan. “You have a gift, young man.”
“Thank you,” Ethan replied, not sure of what else to say.
“I see a lot of competent Healers. Many think themselves special, but very few could do what you did last night. Only maybe one in a generation could do it with no training. Tell me, what is your plan now? Are you hoping to join the college?”
“I haven’t got a plan,” Ethan replied honestly, flicking his eyes down to check on Kay. “This whole world is new to me.”
Bryn nodded slowly. “I think you should stay in Wales.”
“Leave my job and go to the college, you mean?”
