[Damen manages a smile despite everything, at the comment. The worry is ever-present in his eyes and the creases around them, but he can still smile.] Always. It is not as if it's a hardship. [Despite the wings, he's even lighter now, and Damen is very strong.

His smile turns a little bittersweet now, shifting so that Laurent is cradled more comfortably against his chest, and then he starts down the street again, his scales whisper-quiet on the cobbles. Moving like this, like a snake slithering over the ground, had taken considerable effort, but Damianos had forced himself to learn.] I think we have both lost enough blood for a lifetime between us. A physician first, and then rest.