"I can't imagine what that's like," she says, voice subdued and sad. She's never lost a physical part of herself and hopefully never will. But he's not the kind of man a person pities. He's strong in a lot of ways, especially now when he's keeping his head and helping Mei sort out her issues. He doesn't have to do any of this, but he is.

"I do. I have to admit I do. I can't stop her with ice, or fights, or any of it. But with you here, I can. I can tell you that I'm not over what happened, and I probably never will be. And it's made me have to face being helpless and afraid to accept help to solve it. That I can change. I can't do everything on my own, and I'll start accepting help." She blows out a breath. "Trusting people will be hard, but I know I can trust you."