Tuktu Hinterlands Better hold on tight, before you know it's gone

"They were, that's where I joined them."  It was hard to believe now there'd been a time he'd been a Redhawk and she hadn't.  She'd made herself far more a feature even than he had, and far quicker too.  But now she was looking at him again, and he knew it was about time he told her what he'd brought her to tell her.  

He took a breath, then looked at the tree.  "I was never much of one for settlin down till I came here.  Then I met Nell.  We were mates only a few months before she took sick, but I'd never felt anything like it before.  And after she died, I figured that was it.  I'd never have it again."  He finally looked back at Niamh.  "I joined the Redhawks because I figured that was about the only family I'd ever have.  Then I met you."  Fuck.  He'd always been pretty ace at sweet-talking, but when it came from someplace real, it was so much damn harder to put words to it.  "These past months you've brought back a part of me I figured I left here forever.  And I just.." He paused.  What?  The reason he'd brought her here anyway.  "Just wanted you to know why it took me a while."  That was it.  

Like with Quixote, he stook slightly awkardly after, taking in her expression.  He wasn't used to saying what was on his mind like this, but he couldn't move forward until she knew, and he couldn't leave this place behind without saying one last farewell.