She holds on admirably, but he can see the pieces falling away until she turns to wrap her arms around him and he does the same. One wraps tight across her back while the other presses to the top of her back so his thumb can brush the back of her neck. Quietly, he turns to kiss the side of her head again.

He's told others before, but people leaving here...even if they're going back to a grand life, it's tantamount to a death for those left behind. Sudden, rarely a chance to say goodbye, and a hole left in the tapestry of the lives here. It would be closed eventually, but never perfectly.

At least, in this, he felt a wash of...certainty. This was familiar, even as it hurt.

"I've got you. Let it hurt, that's the only way it'll heal." His own eyes burn a bit and he smiles. "You know she loved you. Cinder loved her friends fiercely."