Tessa's hands were not nearly as gentle as Will would've liked, but maybe this time he deserved it. Her mouth was shut, which was a surprise in itself; he expected that she'd be yelling at him by now for visiting one of Six-Fingered Nigel's many friends again. As he wondered what witty remarks she might shout at him this time, a small smile spread his lips, and the more he thought, the funnier it was, and before long he was laughing, his shoulders only shaking slightly. Will could hear the frown in Tessa's voice as she asked, "What are you laughing about?"
He peeked at her from the corner of his eye, and his chest tightened once he caught sight of the jade fist that hung around her neck in replace of the recently broken clockwork angel. Thoughts of his parabatai flooded his mind, and hastily he turned them them all off, shoving them under lock and key with other painful memories. "I'm just waiting for your wise soliloquy about how clearly I wasn't thinking and I really oughtn't run off looking for danger," Will answered, his fake cheeriness sounding pathetic even to his own ears.
She sighed, and her fingers became gentle against his wounds. "I'm just glad you're alive," Tessa murmured, and Will had no response to that.