Cael was at the entrance when Neve came back.
Dusty from head to foot, rock powder in his hair and across his shoulders, looking like someone who had been doing hard physical work for hours till he had recently stopped doing it only to stand here and wait instead.
He saw Neve coming through the trees and something in his posture changed immediately.
"Where have you been?" he asked calmly with a worried voice.
"I'm sorry," Neve said. "I found food. I was collecting—"
"I was about to go into the forest." Cael's jaw was tight. "You said before evening. It's almost dark."
"I lost track of time." Neve held up both hands. "I'm here so nothing happened."
Cael looked at him for a long moment. Then he crossed the space between them and put his arms around Neve and held on, worried about losing him.
Neve stood in it and didn't say anything.
He had been doing everything himself for so long that he had stopped noticing it as a thing.
