Normally, the abrupt change and all the differences in the world would have shocked the phoenix. Normally, she would have felt the overwhelming sense of panic that had begun to fill her in the grocery store. Normally, she might have felt small and afraid again, out of control and alone.
Normally.
As it stood now, there was only one thing that Sabev could focus on at all, and that was the sense that she was no longer alone. One moment she was empty and solitary, the next she was filled with the presence of another. It felt like it had been a thousand years since her mind had touched one of her kind. She hadn't realized quite how distant she'd been.
Better yet, that other was Ilyien.
Tears of happiness and relief brimmed at her eyes as she tore herself from the chair and raced to fling herself in his direction. He was back! He was back! It was so much more than not being alone. Her beloved companion, her hero, the man who had given her hope and who had believed in her was back!
"Oh, Ranulf!" Sabev's arms circled around the other phoenix's neck, and - somewhat rudely - she reached out with her mind to touch his. To feel him there in a way that only another phoenix could provide for her. So long!
It did make her worry and wonder, how close to disassociation had she really been? Despite Niks and Bo and Evan, had she been teetering at the very edge of the precipice? Dangerously near toppling over and going mad?