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“Piret is very important,” Dagan replied with a laugh. “She probably doesn’t have time for writing, in all seriousness. Kajja makes it sound like she never sees her and Eva.”

Hen muttered, “They wouldn’t be anywhere right now if it wasn’t for Kajja.”

“Shall we go and tell them ourselves?” Dagan glanced upward.

“Very funny. No. But you can write and tell them I said so.” Hen made a face.

“You really don’t miss it?” Dagan wondered. “Even now you’ve been alone with the goats for a whole moon while I roamed the forest?”

“The only thing I ever miss is you. And you’re like the moon; I know you’re there, even when I can’t see you.” Hen kissed the top of Dagan’s head and undid his braid again. “The settlement isn’t far off, if I get lonely. Which I don’t.”

That part had been a surprise, actually. Hen had never been alone with his thoughts except for those terrible moons before Dagan had rescued him on the beach. He had not enjoyed his own company, then. Not one little bit.

From the very beginning, though, things had been different when Dagan left him in the Paw Paw Conservancy. For one thing, the goats were better company than he’d expected, with their cheeky personalities and daily antics. For another…Hendrik didn’t hate being alone, as it turned out. Some days were longer than others, when he had something on his mind, especially something from the past. Some nights were harder than others, as he woke with wet sheets to find Dagan was not, in fact, in his bed and arms. Sometimes, yes, he ached for things that were elsewhere, when he was alone.

But no one asked him for anything, when he was alone. No one wanted anything from him, not his family, not his friends, not even Dagan, for whom he would’ve done or given anything at the slightest hint of desire. His time was more his own now than it had ever been, and rather than finding it burdensome, Hendrik found it delicious.

He liked milking the goats by himself in the morning. Washing and carding their fur into something Erron could spin with his clever little fingers next time he and Alexia visited. Hopping onto Adela for a ride into the settlement for a glass of cherry wine and a little music on a cold evening. He liked listening to the sounds of the forest and talking with his neighbors about the land and just existing as himself, in a space where that meant whatever he wanted it to mean.

And how could he be lonely, when he belonged to Dagan? He knew from painful experience that there was no greater or more pleasurable safety in the whole world. Hendrik had been claimed, body and soul, a hundred times over. He had a best friend, a lover, a partner who was as eager to explore who and what he might become as he was. And Dagan had his work, his duty, the honor of being a scout, and the comfort of a life partner. They were together, always, and yet they could exist apart—they’d proven it this moon.

Hendrik wasn’t no one, when he was by himself.

“What are you thinking, my little someone?” Dagan asked with that uncanny knack for mind-reading he swore he didn’t have.

“Just that. I am someone, after all.”

“Did you think you’d disappear when I stepped off our path?” Dagan turned to face him, leaning his cheek against Hen’s free thigh and throwing his arm across his lap to pet Shelton.

“I wasn’t sure,” Hen admitted.

“How did it feel? Being here by yourself?”

“Nice. I mean, I missed you. Bad, sometimes.”

“Mmm, save those stories for a cold night, darling, yes?” Dagan grinned.

Hendrik chuckled. “Well, I’m way more inventive when sex involves more than one person, as it turns out, so don’t expect anything too great.”

“You can tell me what exciting things you imagined, then, even if the actual jerking off was standard.”

“That could be more fun, yeah.” Hen snorted. “But I wasn’t lonely or bored. It was just quiet, and I…liked it.”

“I suspected you might,” Dagan said, tapping his thumb against Hen’s leg. “Though there were a few evenings that I almost abandoned the project and came running home, I won’t lie.”

“You weren’t worried about me?” Hen stroked his hair, smiling at the thought.

“Sweet, sweet thing, of course I was. Leaving you all alone in the woods when you were terrified of them a year ago? Walking away from you for an entire moon when I know if I stayed you would lavish me with attention, affection, and enthusiastic sex acts to suit my every whim? Well, alright, that last bit is more about me than you, but still. You take my point.”

Hendrik laughed and shook his head. “What about you? You became a scout to escape performance. Does it still work?”

“I don’t have a performance to escape now,” Dagan said. “As it turned out, I just needed you for that. But I did enjoy my time with the forest, once I stopped fretting over you. It was a kind of…really deep reconnection. The last time I was out, the Heart Wood was in crisis. Now I can feel her returning to balance. It’s beautiful.”

“I tried to meditate,” Hendrik admitted. “In the goat pasture. I think I got somewhere with it, actually.”

“Will you come out with me? In the morning?” Dagan crawled up onto the couch and gathered Shelton into his arms. The sleepy dog went without protest, allowing Dagan to throw his own legs over Hen’s lap and then settle Shelton on his belly. Shelton was snoring even before Dagan stilled.

Hen smiled at them. “Yeah. You can show me again. After we milk the goats.”

“I’m telling you, all humans have the capacity for lifecasting. Just not on Demetrius’ level.”

“Which is for the best.” Hen frowned. That was what scared him off trying without Dagan, really, even though Hendrik knew he could never reach the level required to actually feed off the land like that vicious, evil, dark creature from the caverns. Just the idea that it was similar…

But so much good had come of it, too. The entire Heart Wood. Their home.

The End

About the Author

Katey Hawthorne loves queer romance. Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in Pittsburgh with her family of one other human and many furry creatures. In her spare time, she enjoys travel, comic books, B-movies, loud music, video games, Epiphones, and Bushmills. Her favorite causes include animal rescue and bisexual representation in media. She is an unashamed fangirl and collects nerdy tattoos like she’s trying to prove it. Find her at kateyhawthorne.com and linktr.ee/kateyhawthorne.