[Never before had Byleth been so intimately connected with someone, and the experience left him almost dazed - unmoored from that moment as the connection between them simmered into something less like an exposed nerve, and more like a fresh burn. He realised after a long pause that Jyn had spoken, the words meaningless until they were processed several times through his stalled mind. He stirred from his thoughts slowly. Focused.]

...yes, a little.

[And it was the truth: while the connection had unearthed a new upheaval of a different nature, the gnawing doubts and purring voices regarding Jeralt's possible demise and the death of his world were more like mumbles. It was a little easier to breathe. A little. But a little was always better than nothing, as Jeralt would always say-

Jeralt. The homesickness, still churning close to the surface like silt in a disturbed pond, speared him squarely through the gut, and it took more effort than it should've to turn it aside, sequester it into the corner of his mind that he was religiously using for such yearning and longing. He can't afford to become distracted.]

Thank... thank you, for the trade. I apologise for any... strangeness, on my side of the connection.

[He always ensured to keep an iron grip on his emotions, to stuff them down before they bubbled up into something deranged and uncontrollable. The fact that his emotions had just sort of, exploded, during that trade - where Jyn's had been far more controlled - was causing a bud of mortification to slowly bloom.]