It was a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand, he didn't want her holding back those tears, and he wanted her to feel comfortable enough to open up and let everything out in front of him. On the other, he just wished he could... take all that pain away, pass an eraser on the last nine decades and rid her of the suffering she had gone through. He knew he couldn't. He also knew she likely wouldn't want him to, either. For better or worse, it had shaped her into who she was today, and that, he definitely would never want to change. He would never want to change a single thing about her, not now nor ever.

So he let her have her reaction, go through the motions and do what she needed. Of course that when she leaned in to hug him he all too promptly returned the gesture, arms wrapping tight around her, fingers curling into the strange thin fabric of her clothes. But she felt the same. Warm, tender, strong. Her scent was a little different but not by much. When he closed his eyes he could feel the scent of the trees and flowers perfuming the air of her island, the sea breeze that carried into the very caves where he had been kept in.

Felt like a lifetime ago. (It had been a lifetime ago.)

By the time she pulled away to look him in the eye, his eyes were brimming with unshed tears. He tried not to blink them but he knew it was pointless, and the moment he did two single streaks of tears fell from his eyes and down his cheeks. "You don't have to swear it," he caught her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing her knuckles, her fingers. "You don't have to. I know. God, I love you... love you so much."