Winter Moon

To his relief, the physical comfort seemed to be helping. The man relaxed and his trembling became much less noticeable. But something still seemed to be deeply upsetting him. When Alarik had nudged his cheek, he'd felt the tears there. And those tears weren't showing any signs of stopping. For a while, the only sounds that seemed to come from the stranger were sniffles and barely concealed sobs. Alarik frowned, trying to suppress the surge of pity that made his heart ache. Surely the man wouldn't want pity. No one did. But Alarik couldn't help it, he just felt so sorry for him and wanted so badly to help.

"It's okay," he whispered again. He needed to know that everything was going to be alright. Whatever he'd gone through in the past, whatever he was afraid of in the future, those things could be forgotten. He just needed to breathe. "No need to thank me." He nudged the stranger again, this time with his nose bumping against the crown of his head. "Just take a few deep breaths, okay? Concentrate on that. Just breathe."