*The boy harshly shivers against this added comfort--the blanket, Kailas's gentle kiss... it's all just too much. He can't control the quiet shakes and hitches to his breaths, just like he can't control the doubt and fear that threatens to swallow him into a black, desolate pit. He quietly cries, like a child, drifts in and out of that bone-deep fatigue. Kailas's hold is warm--that much is a constant, at least.*