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[There is something in him that… unfurls when Thancred tells him that. It took a great strength of character to make that choice, Stephen, knowing that you would draw such ire for it. As though he had been awaiting judgment, even though he knew his friend was not sitting there, listening to dole it out — knowing that it might spring up silently in his mind, unsaid, was just as bad. It feels like relief that this isn’t the case; and though Stephen has rarely ever needed outside validation from anyone else regarding difficult decisions he knew he had to make, it is strangely reassuring to have it from the man sitting before him.

Something flickers across his face, just a ghost of a thing. It looks like gratitude.]

Thanks, Thancred. That does mean— Well, it means a lot.