The fact that Angel doesn't return to their rooms that night doesn't worry Ratonhnhaké:ton. It's far from unusual for her to be distracted by something or other and, by now, if there is anything that he needs to know, he trusts she will tell him. So he goes to bed with only a passing thought and a feeling of missing her presence, but falls asleep nonetheless.

She is so familiar now that he doesn't notice when she returns, when she wraps herself up in his arms and presses herself up against him. He only instinctively tightens his grip around her and buries his nose in her hair. It takes some time before the sounds of her crying breaks through the darkness and haziness of sleep, and for a moment he does little but stir and sigh deeply, only to settle again, with a mind that it's little but a dream.

Only it persists, and finally he blinks his eyes open, and lifts his head. Angel is back, he finally realises. She's back, and she's ... crying.

"Angel?"

It's little more than a whisper, and he doesn't move. If this is what she wants, then that is what he will give her. Perhaps he shouldn't have alerted her to the fact that he is awake, but ...

He's worried.