[A rebuke. Was that how it felt for him? Maybe… maybe… either way, it feels like maybe they’re onto something. He thinks back to the conversation, what they were talking about. Ah, the words he used— and he thinks back to what he was thinking about when the pain started. It takes him a moment to pull the thoughts together, because brushing close still feels tender…]

Something… s-something felt wrong, like …like something was just out of my grasp but it was catastrophic. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen and it would be my fault— but I didn’t know what, so I tried… I-I tried to think a-and…

[Blood. He shakes his head a moment.]

You had said …that I was not a burden. That to …help was “your honor”, I think…? Your words …they faltered on that last part. Do you recall?