[ Mothers. She really doesn't have an example. That frail woman he's seen only in passing years before, barely memorable. Her sister, gone. Incinerated. Left vulnerable. ]

Well, sweetheart, [ he takes a moment to smooth back his unwashed hair with a hand that has started to betray him in his age with trembles and aches ] you're not the easiest to get along with, but you can't push something that small away, not even with ice and vinegar in your veins.