[He holds onto him, out of sheer reflex. What else is he going to do? Not... that he particularly minds. It's odd, how suddenly stability is achieved through physical contact.]

[Just a simple gesture.]

Home... but you'd vanished. You -- I looked.

[Everywhere.]

[He doesn't want to admit this. But... they're being honest now, aren't they?]

I'd... given up. Searching. General assumption was you'd vanished to the Badlands like the others...

[So he'd given up.]