Wapun Meadow no rest for the weary

The last thing he expects is for Evien to empathize.
By this point, he'd almost forgotten people could do that. The universal human experience here seemed to be that family tended to be shitty. From Merrick, to Ico, and now Evien. Was there a gene for alienation? For being unable to belong? 
Taylor looks up at him. He's transfixed. The meadow around them is breathing, too.
Evien's joke pulls a laugh out of him, but it's not entirely because it's a good joke. Like every person, you'd have to laugh at how helpess you were. If you couldn't laugh, then, there was nothing else to do but be captured. His uncle always told him: the soldiers who don't laugh are usually the first to, you know.
He wants to shake him by the shoulders. Tell him everything. Thanks, Evien, he murmurs, looking away. You're a good person. I'd do the same for you. A thoughtful silence.
What does she look like? She look like you?