[ She'll be back. She has to be back. Right? The fingers in his hair are soothing, at least, and Morgan's voice is a comfort to hear and feel. What she says is no news to him, of course, but it's a reminder that his mother will come out the other end strong. (And then he has to quash the pang of guilt that tells him he is her weakness. His mother, not to mention the other Morgan, would chastise him for that, he's sure.)

Soon he quiets but stays where he is, taking as much comfort as he can. He gathers his thoughts and walks back into his memory. Kite's chamber wasn't long ago, yet it already feels distant and surreal. He speaks quietly. ]

He took her heart out and kept it in a box. And then, somehow, he put it in me. And I could feel... all the things she felt while she was dying. Everything. [ And he still can now, like a perpetual ache. ]