Cerrit leans into that touch, closing his eyes.

"You're right that you're awfully bald. I don't know how to take care of you, the way you are for me right now. Among eisfurra, grooming one another is something of an intimate act. Not necessarily sexual, but something you don't let someone do who you don't trust. Families might preen one another at the end of a long day, and it's something partners do for one another. I can't straighten your feathers. But I'd want to, John."