For a second he's tense, surprised. She's hugged him before (and he's barely used to that idea), but never so tightly. But then the words come, her mumbles, her telling him that he's... important, right?

Is that why... she wants to help him? Because she... cares about him? Because he has worth? Because (it could all come crashing down so easily with the wrong word a slip of the tongue slipped his mind slipped and fell and died and he is so fucking tired of this).

There's only a hesitation where he wills his arms to move against everything they're trained to do, but then his grip is steady and he pulls her in as close as he can, holding her just as tightly as if it would somehow keep her there forever. He pets her hair, running his fingers through it to keep himself anchored, to try and make her feel better. It's really the only thing he can think of--the only thing he knows to do.

"E gyt'tys zyo ly clip'c, c'nitt y'ma," he mutters in that strange language of his, "Dol sa ipa irip'l." The meaning is more of a feeling than a message, a sense of longing, hoping, and sadness... but also a sense that this is how it must be. It is not so bad, because he's been given more than he could have asked for already.

'I would follow you to the stars, little one, but for the fact that our fates are two different paths.'