He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to say to something like that. So he didn't say anything for a while. It was more than they've spoken on the subject in months. He didn't want to ignore it. He didn't want to make light of what she and Terra had lost. Because even if he'd had access to magic once, he couldn't understand what it meant to have it running through your veins for so long, and then to feel it die. Not really. Not even close.

But he knew what it was like to lose. He'd lost a piece of himself when he lost Rachel. Spent years trying to hold himself together with the hope of fixing something that was already gone. Because the thought of moving forward without it was too much to bear. Losing that hope all over again had only hurt all the more. Celes knew better than that. She always was smarter than him.

"...I'm sorry." Quiet, and he folded her hand in his again to warm it. Back then, he'd always thought it was the ice in her veins that made her feel so cool. It could just as easily be the chill in the air from the storm. Maybe it wasn't that complicated. Maybe it was just Celes.