[ He wishes that he had the answers to these questions, and that he could find a way to bridge the gap between the lives he has lived. As for the careful touches to her hair, he means them to be comforting to her as much as they are to him. Too many times has he sought comfort from her, and not offered said comfort to her in return. The scales feel quite unbalanced, and he seeks to remedy that.

Still, when she eases him to rest his head against her, he does not resist with his actions. Instead, he says: ] I know that you will most certainly protest, but I cannot help but feel that I have not shown you enough of the same care that you have given me. [ He ought to be the strong one of the two of them, being the rock that she needs when she feels unsteady, the one who gives her comfort when she has need of it. He knows that she has said he is that for her, but he feels that he has not done enough to live up to it. ]

But at what cost? Perhaps by pushing forward and thinking only of duty and expectation, I have lost sight of things of greater importance. Our past lives should not be so easily forgotten, and yet I know I cannot bring them to mind as easily as you can. [ He does his best to keep his expression inscrutable, but he cannot quite stop the look of regret from slipping into place. ]

I should not have forgotten you. I should have- [ His voice wavers for a moment, but he pushes forward regardless. ] I should have looked for you in all our lives, so that we could have been together.

[ He wonders why that was not so; why he had not felt compelled to look for her, to be with her. And now he realizes that by not doing so, whether it was something he could control or not, he has hurt her. ]

No, I am sorry that I did not try to find you. I did you wrong, and I must make up for that. [ And it should not have taken this long to realize it. ]