"M'fine," Dree whispered with a curt nod.  He looked over the edge of the loft rail, where he could hear his mother, just out of sight, in the kitchen. He couldn't see his uncle.

Good.

Akiva's hand warmed his back, moving softly and he ventured a small smile--though it was an expression of decision, rather than unmitigated feeling. She was too good. So kind. She'd spent the better part of the night last night, soothing him. When he wasn't crying, Gabe had been. Or she had. With the current events--his mother with the candle, Alberic with, well, everything--Dreogan had forgotten that it might be alright to feel hopeful again.

He glanced over at his brother, now with his son, speaking something softly to him. Gabe made a jerky lunge towards Bear-Cat, and the kitten's hackles raised as it bolted, running clear into Adon's wardrobe. Gabe gave a cry of dismay, trying to decide whether to abandon his uncle in pursuit of the kitten.

"I just don't like him being here, alone. With Adon," he rumbled in a low tone. Adon was playing with Gabe at the moment, trying to distract him, but he could tell by the way Adon held very still, expression neutral, that he was trying to listen in.

Or maybe he was just... neutral.

His heart ached at the thought. If Adon did not recover, he only hoped his brother would not know what he was missing out on. Dreogan felt the loss keenly--and only over a span of a couple of days. For it to be permanent?

No, no. He was awake. He was holding their child. He had affection. That was not neutral.

Giving Akiva  slight squeeze, he exhaled a cleansing breath. "He's gone, though. And Adon's back."  He tilted his head, craning slightly forward to catch his wife's expression, some glimpse into her feelings. She was an Eleor through and through. All he'd read thus far was that she was worried: worried about Adon, about him, probably about Gabe killing that cat with kindness...

"You okay? I'm sorry about earlier. With 'ma." That had been an impossible position he'd put her in.

Akiva nodded, accepting his discomfort with his uncle.  Alberic Grimm was unsettling and his motives were, from what Akiva understood, hard to pinpoint in most circumstances.  Even Gabriel had picked up on that, and he still couldn’t properly identify cats as anything but bear, which admittedly was odd, considering Gordon and Tabitha were much more constant cats in his life…

If Adon’s influence on Gabriel was so strong already… she looked at the two of them, laughing a little as Bear did the only sensible thing and ran and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. 

She leaned her temple against Dree’s shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment.  As much of an optimist as she attempted to be, there was a twinge of doubt, seeded right at the center of her brain.  She didn’t know much about dementor attacks, but she did know what it felt like to be near them.   She’d been on that train ride in her third year – the one Harry Potter fainted on.  She’d been at the quidditch match where he fell off his broom.  Those hadn’t even been real attacks and it rendered someone incapacitated. 

It was lucky that Adon was even up, she had to remind herself.  She was surprised at Dree’s question, glancing up at him, “Oh? No, no,” she shook her head, “it’s fine.”  It was, really.  Hestia didn’t react to things like Akiva did – she was clearly her sons’ mother.  “She was upset,” Akiva sympathized, “it isn’t personal.”  Perhaps that was the optimist in her raising its head again, but she had to believe that.