Their tones were warm, but the talk was chilled with vagueness and distance. Blue frowned faintly at the realization, casting his gaze down at the table that separated them. He was reminded of the great, almost blinding notion of hope and happiness when he had first been sighted...This was a disappointment, wasn't it? Not of Blue's own making, but the circumstances were what they were. They would not improve without effort in any case.

He looked back up, the frown vanished, glazed over in a placid, receptive look. "I will hope for you," he said. "That things will improve, and discomfort overcome." It was almost something said aloud to himself as much as the boy. "If I can be of aid in any case, you need only ask."