A lot of words crowd around in Sanzo's chest, or his brain, or wherever it is that these things get all tangled up. How can Amberdrake speak so freely? Why can't he?

"I haven't," is what he manages-- without self-pity, only plainly. That he cares is something that the kestra'chern can feel; that he loves him is something that saying aloud is entirely alien at the best of times, and yet he's here, his hand is in Drake's, and he's doing his inadequate best to listen.

But-- "I understand."