---

Things had gone dangerously well, if Rivers was any judge of things! Sure, it hurt something monstrous to put pressure on his left foreleg, to the point he really wasn't walking on it at all. Whole thing had swole up like he stuck it in a beehive.

But hey! Small price to pay for saving the whole bloody world! He knew a good bargain when he saw one.

Not everyone in the Howff had been so fortunate. He knew that, too, though he would not let it steal his sadness. He would make space for both grief and joy entwined. There would be mending work to do, later. Lots of it.

Well... actually. According to Elaine, there was mending work to do now, and it required him to hold still, and it did not involve kisses.

He sighed a lamentation, flopping dramatically onto to furs of his bed. Ow.