It was one thing for her to cry. She'd come to understand that despite her hardiness, despite the fact that she'd been self-sufficient for most of her life, she really was just a child in the face of something much bigger than herself, something that she was only barely beginning to understand. But Luke-.... For Luke to be moved to tears....

She'd said something wrong. She must have. Nothing else could account for that tear that she was hastily but gently brushing away with her thumb. "You can," she whispered insistently. "You have to. You can't just stay still and stagnant and wait for death. I know that's what you said you'd wanted, but... that can't be the case now. Can it?"