"Don't," he says instantly, voice firm despite his tears. And more gently, "Don't be sorry. Please. This isn't your fault. This isn't anyone's fault." He doesn't believe that, but he needs to say it for her sake and maybe if he says it enough, he'll start to feel inclined to believe it, too. "This... Is a mess. One I don't know how to clean up."

Angel draws his head back, dropping his hands onto her shoulders as he turns his head just enough to see out the open veranda and the Taxon landscape that lies beyond it. "They won't understand."