Caring and what Saffi was describing weren't the same thing. He knew this the way he knew the difference between walking and running - same motion, same limbs yet different speed, different intention, different destination. And pretending they were the same, saying something when the honest answer was something else, would be the cruelest thing he could do to a person who had just handed him the most vulnerable version of herself and asked him to hold it.
He breathed in, and his lips parted.
"Saffi" he said.
She was still looking at the lanterns. Still composed, still upright, still Saffi. But the stillness had a different weight now - the stillness of someone bracing for impact, every muscle engaged in the act of staying exactly where she was regardless of what arrived next.
"You're… Incredible."
She didn't turn. The lantern light moved across her face in slow amber waves.
