"I wouldn't have taken it lightly either, if you'd tried to keep me out of a fight with Vex," he muttered into his elbow. "...That's fighting next to Vex, not fighting... At Vex. But fighting with Vex happens, too. A lot. Sometimes. But it's never so bad. Love her too much," he was well on to babbling.

He closed his eyes, quiet for a few moments, but apparently hadn't passed out after all. "I'm sorry they're not here either. But at least they had a mother who loved them. They knew they did," he was sure.