Devero will hold him for as long as he needs. The dam may have broken but there's a core of bedrock inside Devero; Valdana's been chipping it away, bit by bit, but she hasn't worn it down yet.

"I believe you," he says. He loosens his arms, but only so he can hold the priest out at arm's length. He tries to catch his eye. "And Sanzo?" --That seems so impersonal. "Koumyou Sanzo, I think I would have done the same thing in your place, if it was my child's life on the line."

Turn and turn about they go, two celestial bodies rotating around a common center of gravity...