Without the robes to cling to, Cole's fingers just scrabbled at wet skin for a long moment before he managed to anchor himself, long arms wrapped around Rhys and legs curled up against the mage's ribs on one side. The hat had fallen on the leap in and sat abandoned on the side of the hot spring.

It had been years since Cole had shown much in the way of overt emotion, not since that chant had stabbed through him, ripped the confusion from him and left him bare to his own reality. But Compassion wasn't really there in the moment and it was just Cole starting to cry quietly into Rhys' neck, tears lost in the hot water.