"This wasn't intended to happen, it seems." Sanzo's tone is as matter-or-fact as it always was, blunt but bracing in its own way. "But that's always how it goes."

Whatever he's thinking, he doesn't share it aloud with Drake, but his concern can be felt. He isn't made of stone, as much as he tries to be. This is one of his companions-- his lover, once, ten years ago by Drake's time, a few weeks by his.

What might have changed in all these years? Even the feel of the kestra'chern is different!

"And here?"