Joly shakes his head, hard. "Autor--Autor, no. I mean-- you know for yourself what you think of your own memories, I won't argue that, but--you never need to apologize to me for being upset. For, for grieving what's lost, or being confused, or anything like that."

He reaches out, just resting his fingers against Autor's shoulder, and goes on more quietly. "You're my friend; I want to know if something's hard for you, or hurts, or if there's a problem--if not so I can help, at least so I don't go blundering right over it."