Being alone seems strange still, and many nights his newly earned cabin stays empty and he sleeps on deck. With Iskierka coiled around him, he is warm and comforted in a way that reaches back to his first memories. Back before the Corps was thought of for him, back when his father was alive, he would sleep thus in his mother's arms before the fire. Jolted awake in the quiet reaches of one night by a wave he watches the stars past the protective curve of leg and wonders if this is the first time since he has felt beloved.