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He traced his thumb over her cheek before he dropped his hand. “When you are ready, I will be here.”

“Linshi.” Adry’s smile flashed, banishing some of that dark edge in her eyes. “Now I’d better let you get down. The ground crew has been very patient.”

The ground crew had stopped a few feet away, waiting for him to climb down from his aeroplane before they wheeled it into the hanger. If he gave the signal, they would push the aeroplane into the hangar with him inside. It was more work for them, but Fieran had given the order to do so if Merrik needed to climb down from his aeroplane and straight into his wheelchair.

Thankfully, today wasn’t one of those days. It had been a long flight, but without the twists, turns, and punishment of a battle to his body, he was just fine to climb down here and walk to the hangar.

Well, his legs were. His prosthetic had suffered in all the mud and wet of the past weeks, and something was grinding in the ankle joint. It was functional, but he’d have to take it apart and replace a few bearings, possibly with Pip’s help if they didn’t have the right-sized parts on hand. Thankfully, between him and Pip, he was reasonably sure they could fix the prosthetic. He wouldn’t have to send all the way to Estyra for a new one just yet.

Once Adry hopped to the ground, Merrik levered himself out of the seat and swung first his left leg, then his right with his prosthetic over the side of the fuselage.

He was stiff after the long flight, and his stump had swollen despite his efforts to compress it with the root system inside the cuff. Still, he was standing, walking, and could climb out of his aeroplane by himself. The move was even relatively graceful. That was a vast improvement over just a couple of weeks ago.

As soon as he had two feet firmly planted on the ground, Adry flung herself into his arms again.

He couldn’t help a laugh at her exuberance before he kissed her again. Whatever she’d experienced at the front, it hadn’t dimmed her in any way.

“I missed you,” she murmured between kisses.

“You missed kissing me.” Merrik held her tight, grinning through their kisses. He might have missed the kissing more than he was going to admit.

“Not just the kissing.” Adry pulled back just enough to poke his shoulder. “I missed you for a lot of other reasons.”

“Mm-hmm.” Merrik tried to give her a stern look, but he was pretty sure he didn’t manage it.

She rolled her eyes and gave him another poke with her finger before she stepped back. “Fine, fine. I won’t deny it. I missed the kissing.”

“I knew it.” He pressed one last, light kiss to her hair before he clasped her hand.

Hand-in-hand, the two of them strolled toward the hangar. His gait hitched worse than normal, and the ankle joint on the prosthetic made a sound every time it moved—a sound loud enough that Adry sent him a look. He just shrugged. “The mud destroyed the joint. But it is fixable, I think.”

Adry pressed her mouth into a line and nodded.

As they passed where Fieran and Pip stood beside his aeroplane, Adry waved to her brother, and Fieran waved back. A silent greeting between siblings.

Adry swung their clasped hands. “I’m glad both of you are all right. I was worried.”

“Fieran had things well in hand.” Merrik unbuttoned his thick flight coat with his free hand, already roasting in the heat of the early fall day. With the protection of Fieran’s magic around the squadron, Merrik had been in very little danger. “I was more worried about you.”

“I was with Dacha. Nothing was going to happen to me.” Adry gave another shrug, though a hint of the shadows returned to her expression.

True. Merrik had heard how Uncle Farrendel had taken on the whole of the Mongavarian army to rescue Fieran after he’d crashed behind enemy lines. Nothing would stand in his way when his children were in danger.

As they reached the hangar, Merrik’s dacha stepped forward to slap Merrik on the shoulder, giving him a once-over look as if to make sure he’d come back whole. Or as whole as he’d ever be.

But after that single moment, Dacha stepped back, a faint curl to his mouth. Behind him, Uncle Farrendel nodded to Merrik, an even more prominent wrinkle to his nose.

Merrik suppressed a grin. Adry might not be bothered by his unwashed stench, but their dachas—full elves that they were—weren’t so cavalier.

Once inside the hangar, Merrik halted beside where his aeroplane normally parked and let go of Adry’s hand to shed his flight jacket and cap. His flight boots had been modified so that he only had the soft leather boot on his left leg. The right pant leg ended just below his knee with a drawstring he could tighten to keep his stump and what remained of that leg warm. All he had to do, after he’d shed the flight boot, was lace a combat boot onto his left foot since the right wooden foot already wore a regular boot.

He dropped his flight gear into a pile on the hangar’s floor. It would need to be washed in a bucket of cold water and hung to dry. Hopefully drying wouldn’t take long in the warmth of the day.

“I am going to grab my kit and a fresh uniform from my tent, then join the line for the showers.” Merrik finished tying the laces on his left boot and straightened.

“I’ll keep you company.” Adry took his hand again. “Though I might stand upwind.”

“I will not blame you.” Merrik grimaced, taking shallow breaths. Just being in the hangar, away from the breeze, had increased the smell. “A whole line of flyboys waiting for the showers is not going to smell great. Many of them stink worse than I do.”