"Hey now, don't apologize. Someone you care about left. It's only natural to feel this way." Roland is quick to reassure as soon as there is space for him to comfort. The hand that now strokes the back of Inigo's hair a natural transition in his efforts to soothe the hurt that rolls off of the boy in wracking heaves and sobs. There is no sound more heartbreaking than this; another departure Roland is powerless to stop.

And that leap of faith Inigo takes when he actually admits to him how he feels is not lost on Roland. He knows by experience that these are words born and spoken from indelible pain. How it feels like an endless cycle, nothing changing for the better. The darkness that has long settled in the depths of his own heart, jaded and bitter, know this to be true. The unceasing cycle of loving and losing; it really won't end and it can't. It is the same thought that takes over him when his arms were wrapped around a different boy, a world and a half ago; also tired, also wanting for everything to stop.

The tides will always come. No matter what, right?

But, still. We'll keep moving anyway. Won't we, Inigo?

"Then, why don't we do that?" He eventually comes to, pulls back so he can look at Inigo's face, red and puffy from the force of his tears. Calloused fingers once again wiping the marks away from his cheeks, and a smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes but is warm and inviting, regardless. "Let's not do anything. Let's come back inside the train and...not think about what to do, first? Rest with me." Roland nods encouragingly. "Nothing might get better...for today. Just today. Only today. And then tomorrow, tomorrow we have another chance. Yeah?"

The hands wiping his tears drift slowly back down to his shoulders. It isn't the answer. He'll never have the answer for the children that life has chosen to wear down at every turn. But he can protect them, when they run to his shelter. He'll be here, when they look for him. It's all Roland can do.