Every contact is so new to him, and after what they're experiencing now he knows that the steps he's made forward are near being lost. Even now he feels so tightly wound that at any moment he could snap.

And yet when she lays her head on his shoulder, even though he tenses, he shifts slightly. Just enough to wrap his arm around her shoulder. For a moment his hand stays lifted and then, after drawing a breath, he brings his hand down to rest on her shoulder.

He's never offered comfort and he knows he's not good at it but he's doing his best to be there for her, to show her he's trying.

"She haunts you because she lost and because you hurt, but I will destroy entire cities before I let her touch you again. Understood?"