… I think you’re right. [ this, in a whisper. and the way he curls in towards her practically like trying to make himself smaller, like the form of the wisp that he is, his original self, when this very body of his is an imitation. a shadow and memory of his friend. ] You’re probably right. What I admired about him most was his conviction, his willingness to give all of himself to freedom. Maybe he had no regrets for his life.

But I do.

I’m the one who can’t let go. [ not for thousands of years. and it was the purest and worst weakness of him, that he never seemed to be able to resolve after so much time and wine, wine enough to send him into oblivion over and over again and yet it did nothing to salve or cure. ]