Last time they went to Elusia, he was so focused on rescuing Father he'd barely had time to notice the cold. This time, he was much too aware. Even with a heavy winter coat and gloves he still felt it and the snow was even thicker than the last time. When they finally stopped to make camp, Alcryst's fingers felt like ice cubes.

"Here." The Divine Dragon ushered him into one of the tents and held out his hands. Alcryst blinked.

"Divine One...?"

"You said your hands were always cold," Alear said. "Let me warm them." Alcryst's cheeks flushed and his heart pounded, he'd said that but as usual, he'd figured it wasn't anything worth remembering. He'd just been grousing a bit about his performance during the battle after his shots either missed or didn't do any damage. It was mostly the miasma's fault, but it was just habit for him to blame himself.

He should have expected the Divine Dragon to remember, though. Lately it seemed he always remembered even the littlest details, or knew what Alcryst was thinking or feeling.

Swallowing, he brought his cold hands forward and took Alear's warm ones, trying not to get too flustered as Alear's fingers slowly rubbed his. Slowly, he felt the circulation break through the chill, the tingly sensation of gradual heat flowing through him.

"Better?" Alear asked after several moments of silence. Alcryst nodded.

"Thank you. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time than tend to my hands, but I appreciate it all the same," he murmured. "Are...are you okay, though?" This whole time he'd been thinking about his own feelings; the fear for Father's life, their efforts all being for nothing, his grief, his anger. But the Divine Dragon had suffered his own losses in Elusia as well.

Alear closed his eyes for a moment before he looked down at Lucina's ring on his finger.

"I still remember how we lost the Emblems that day," he said quietly. "How all I could do was stand there like a scared, useless child while they were stolen, corrupted, robbed of their free will. I kept telling myself, you have hands and feet, you're capable of moving, you could have just reached out and stopped her yourself."

"No." Alcryst shook his head. "Divine One, she was too powerful, you saw what she was capable of that day in Lythos, if it was so easy to take the rings from you she'd have taken them back just as quickly even if you'd stepped in."

"I know that now," Alear said. "Lucina made me realize I couldn't just blame myself and give up." He smiled a little. "And we have most of them back now. Roy, Micaiah, Leif, Sigurd, and we've got new Emblems alongside them. Not to mention the Bracelets." He tapped Alcryst's wrist. "You and Hector were the ones who personally got Roy back from Marni that day." Acryst's blush resurfaced, though he didn't let go of Alear's hands. Diamant could have done it with one hand behind his back, he wanted to say, but for once, he couldn't bring himself to refuse the Divine Dragon's praise.

"And we'll get Celica and Marth back next time," he said. "We're stronger than we were that day, thanks to you." Alear smiled, sighing a little.

"Thank you, Alcryst. You don't know how much better your words and presence make me feel." He let go of Alcryst's hands only to reach for a thick wool blanket and wrap it around them. "You really are amazing."

"You're saying that a lot lately," Alcryst murmured, instinctively leaning into him. Alear wrapped an arm around his shoulders, his free hand taking Alcryst's and squeezing softly.

"Because it's true." I'm not, Alcryst thought, but by now the feelings of warmth and safety eclipsed even his strongest self-doubts. Smiling, he nestled closer to Alear, letting his eyes fall closed.

He didn't feel the chill for the rest of the night.