You have all your contracts and minions and generally terrorizing anyone who steps foot inside the forest to preoccupy you.

It's understandable. [ It's not as if Avery wants to think about the past. He certainly wouldn't blame him. And he himself is always wandering, never really as present as he feels he should be...but it's painful, sometimes.

He simply nods, silent otherwise. 'It's not bad' is practically a welcome banner and a fanfare, coming from him.

... ]

I missed this. [ It seems silly to say 'I missed you', because he's always been...right there. Hard to miss, really.

But it's hard to be vulnerable. It's safe to bicker and banter and be acerbic and dismissive.

So the distance between them - has always been hard to miss, too. ]