"Enoch!"
Relief shot through him like a bolt of electricity, so powerful and consuming that his bones seemed to rattle with it; his neck snapped up and, ignoring the inquisitive glances from the other children and Jake's infuriating demands, he stood up and looked around sharply.
There she was - at the end of the pier, staring at him. Her hair, a tawny brown mess of curls, mussed by the wind, had been dragged up into a haphazard ponytail, and her electric blue eyes were sharp and relieved as she strode towards him; he found himself scanning her figure for injuries - though her movement and the clothes flapping in the wind made it more than difficult - and felt his mood sour and worry pang in his chest when he spotted the slight limp, particularly in her right leg, and the cuts, bruises and gashes littering her tanned skin.
She reached him within moments, lunging forward and wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
Normally, he would have hesitated. His arms would have seemed tense and mechanical as they wrapped around her waist.
But something was different this time.
He grappled with the back of her shirt, bunching it up and lifting her clean off her feet, catching her thighs. Enoch buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes with the relief and the concern and the sudden burst of awe that shot through him. She clutched at his shoulders, and instead of squeaking something about being unstable as she might've done in any other situation, she instead cuddled closer, breathing shakily.
"You're okay?" he asked gruffly, setting her down, reluctant to stop touching her.
"Yeah," Theo breathed, hands settling on his upper arms. "Bird, I was so worried about you."
"Don't worry about me," Enoch said firmly. "I'm fine. I'm always fine."