Claire found Jim sometime later, in the company of Nomura and Nari. He was sitting beside Nomura on the ground, nursing a fresh cut on his arm- likely from a spar.

Nari had claimed a spot on the ledge behind him and sat cross-legged in a small bed of flowers- grown magically, Claire assumed- as she wove a tiny braid into his hair. Claire spotted a couple of others sticking out of his thick mane, as well as several brightly colored flowers.

Jim didn't offer any protest, too polite to tell her no. His ear flicked, knocking one of the flowers at his temple loose.

He looked up as Claire approached, breath catching as his gaze fell on her. The broodiness he had displayed earlier was gone- a good sign, Claire decided.

Nari and Nomura followed his gaze. Nari beamed at her while Nomura scowled uncomfortably. The changeling glanced from her to Jim, got up and left without a word. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened between them, but she could tell they were due a disgustingly feely, relationship-focused conversation and wanted to flee before it began.

Nari leaned to the side to look down at Jim. "Feeling better?"

Jim thought for a moment and admitted with some confusion, "Yeah, actually. I do. Thanks, Nar."

She smiled and scampered off, leaving them alone.

Jim and Claire stared at each other for a moment, neither knowing entirely what to say or how to start the conversation.

Claire coughed and moved to sit beside him.

She bit her lip to keep from smiling. "You look pretty."

Jim laughed, caught off guard by the comment, and just like that, the tension was broken.

"You think so?" he responded, quirking a brow in her direction. "I'm trying something new with my hair."

"It's working. It's a good look for you."

Jim removed a bright purple flower Nari had tucked behind his ear. He regarded it quietly, twirling it between his fingers before offering it to Claire with a timid little smile.

Claire returned the smile, heart bursting with fondness as she accepted the flower from him.

They were going to be ok.

"Do you need help?" Claire asked, pointing to his wounded arm.

Jim shook his head. "Nah, it's not that bad. Nomura just caught me on a bad dodge."

Claire held out her hand and Jim obligingly rested his elbow into her palm, allowing her a closer look at the gash across his bicep. It was clean and shallow, having already stopped bleeding.

She hummed and nodded. "Well, you almost lost your arm, but I think you'll live." She patted his forearm reassuringly.

Jim snorted. "Thank you, Dr. Nuñez."

Claire reached up and plucked a tiny yellow bloom from his hair. "So… all this- was this before or after the fighting?"

"After," Jim confirmed, knocking the remaining flowers loose with a few passes of his fingers through his hair. "Nomura jumped me, we fought for a bit, and then Nari… did whatever all this is," he gestured vaguely to the flowers fallen to the ground around them.

"Nomura jumped you?" Claire parroted.

"Yeah," Jim confirmed, dark brows furrowed. "She said I looked like I was on a warpath, like I was looking for trouble. So she intercepted before I could find it."

"...Were you looking for trouble?" Claire asked carefully.

Jim shrugged. "I don't know. I was angry. Frustrated."

Claire regarded him curiously. "And fighting helped?"

"Yeah. Alot, actually," Jim scratched his jaw thoughtfully. "I blew off all that steam and then when I'd calmed down some Nari did her weird flower magic, and suddenly I felt like… me again."

Claire hummed in thought. "Well, that explains why you were so moody earlier." She knocked her knee against his, trying to take any potential sting out of her words.

Jim knocked his knee back into hers. "What does?"

"Douxie said," Claire started and reached up to work loose the braids Nari had woven in his hair. Knowing her, they didn't contribute to anything magical- she'd just felt like braiding someone's hair. "That whenever a village would accidentally put out belthane instead of trollbane, it would work any invading trolls into a frenzy. Like it made them go berzerk."

Jim took a moment to absorb that information. "So… the aggression-"

"That's your troll half." Claire affirmed, freeing one braid before moving to the next.

"-And the… other stuff?" He asked, looking anywhere but at Claire.

"Human half."

Jim rumbled in acknowledgement. A thoughtful silence stretched between them, Jim picking at the loose threads of his shirt while Claire diligently de-braided him.

"Do you," Jim trailed off for a moment, a blush creeping its way across his cheeks. He coughed to clear his throat. "Do you remember anything?"

So they were going to talk about this now. Claire exhaled.

"Some things," she admitted, brushing out the last of the braids with her fingers. "Bits and pieces."

She fidgeted with her bangs for a moment before turning the question his way: "...Do you?"

"I'm…" he crossed his arms over his chest and he curled in on himself somewhat, insecure. "Starting to remember a lot more."

Oh.

"I didn't- I didn't really have any control of myself. I don't like…" he huffed, ears drooping noticeably. "I hate not being in control."

Claire felt her heart breaking for him. She knew what was running through his mind-

-The incident with the Green Knight.

She reached out to touch his shoulder, wanting to offer him comfort, but when he turned to look at her, his eyes were so sad, so remorseful.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked softly.

"You mean the…"

"Yeah," he confirmed, hunching his shoulders as if bracing for a blow.

Claire felt the stirring of a memory at the back of her mind as she tried to recall-

Her back arched as she gasped; the pain was quick, sharp as their groins fell flush. It was accompanied by pleasure, so intense she almost paid it no mind at all.

They should have been slow and careful- would have been slow and careful under normal circumstances. An avoidable consequence, but one she didn't especially mind with her head just so full of him.

His teeth were on her exposed neck, vibrating against her skin as he growled, the sound noticeably different from the growls she'd heard from him when he fought. This was triumphant, confident- possessive almost.

Then he was moving above her and the pain was gone just as soon as it'd come, reduced to a barely perceived ache.

Her legs came up around his waist and-

Heat rushed to Claire's face and she blinked in surprise. She swallowed and pressed her cool fingers to her cheeks. "No, I, um… No, I don't think you did."

Jim looked at her, studying her face for a moment. Claire wondered if he had the same memory- ultimately deciding yes from the way he cleared his throat and looked away.

"That wasn't, uh," Jim absently ran a palm along one of his horns, "how I'd… imagined… that for us."

"Me either," Claire responded softly.. She rested her head on his shoulder and he laid his temple against hers. "That wasn't us, though. Not completely."

Jim shrugged. "No. But I feel kind of stupid for not acting sooner. Like I could have avoided all this."

"Stop," Claire raised her head to look at him. "We weren't ready. Forcing it sooner wouldn't have helped anything."

"You were ready," Jim acknowledged, turning to look at her. "I was too hung up on trying to avoid what… ended up happening anyway."

Claire's brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Jim huffed and looked down at his hands. "I was always worried about hurting you. About going… too troll when things get heated."

Oh.

Oh.

When those eager growls took a primal edge. All those times a gentle love bite had turned sharp. That's why he'd pulled away.

Not because he was physically self conscious.

Because she was human and decidedly more fragile.

"You didn't hurt me though," she reminded him. "We were just… rough."

Jim hummed, unconvinced. He hooked a finger into the collar of her sweater and pulled it down her shoulder. The bruised splotches he'd spotted earlier had darkened. "That looks hurt to me."

"A hickey," Claire deadpanned. "You've given me those before." They were always accidental, of course, but that wasn't the point.

"Claire, that's a bite." Jim's thumb grazed the indents his teeth had made, taking care with the deeper wounds caused by his tusks. "And it's not the only one."

"That wasn't you, Jim," Claire insisted, unhooking his finger from her collar and putting it back in place. She clasped his hand between her much smaller pair. "That was the belthane."

Jim didn't respond and kept staring at the top of her shoulder as if he could still see the wound he'd left. He grumbled, disgusted.

Claire looked down at his hand between hers and began idly tracing the lines on his palm with her thumb. "We could try again," she started carefully.

She looked up and met Jim's wary side-eye.

"Not right now," she laughed. No, with those deep muscle aches she was still feeling, she was not eager to jump right back in. "But we need a do-over. Without any magical interference. I don't want that to be how we remember our first."

"A do-over," Jim parroted, considering.

"Yeah," Claire smiled. "When we're both ready."

He looked down at the hand Claire held in hers. At the way her warm skin tone contrasted from his blue stone.

When Jim was still quiet after a few beats, Claire bumped her shoulder into his. A silent request for a response.

Jim chuckled. Their eyes met and an unspoken agreement was made.

When they were both ready.

Deal.

"Come on," Jim said, pushing off the ground. "I'll carry you back."

"Such a gentleman," Claire responded, standing herself. Jim crouched in front of her and she wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to his back.

"Yeah, well," He hooked his hands behind her knees and stood. "Just noticed the way you were walking earlier."

Claire bit back a laugh at was what meant to be an innocent comment. She leaned into his ear and teased, "Bragging, are we?"

She watched in real time the purple tint that bloomed across his face.

Jim grumbled an inaudible response and began the trek back.