Among all the ways Alina has become someone different, it is a comfort to note the ways in which she is the same. Still generous, kind when she doesn't have to be. And here, she fits in against him the way he remembers. It requires so little thought to adjust the fall of his cloak around her as one hand pinches lightly at her elbow.

"Me, a bear?" he counters, mock-affronted. "I'm not sure what that makes you then."

A second, gentler squeeze at Alina's elbow.

"Not to mention these elbows. I've been fending these off for years now."

Except here is the thing: Alina is not so skinny anymore. Her elbows are not so sharp as they were once. It looks good on her, yes, but there is some minor uncertainty as Mal thinks of it. The change lives in the space after the tease, a quiet kind of weight.