Bitterroot Valley still getting old, space is still getting cold

He's thinking about people today — people he's lost and left behind, specifically. Helios comes to mind first, a burning still-oozing wound at the center of his heart. Then Phillip, a mark almost as terrible as the one left by his brother. Lainie, Polaris, Maman — all abandoned in a never-ending quest to self-destruct. But he's past that now, he thinks. He won't leave this time. He won't lose Kratos.
A familiar scent shakes him from his thoughts, and he pauses. Something from his past has followed him here — someone. A very persistent someone, who he can't help but love more for all that she's trying. He even feels a little bad for abandoning her.