And what need can I fulfil for you in return? You are a dear friend, and if it's in my power, it is yours.

[It was an easy promise to make, given that it was something he very much wanted to do. Essek was important to him, so very important. Things had become complicated between them, but somehow Caleb thought they'd grown closer for it, the understanding of two deeply flawed, lonely men.]

I am... a luckier man than I knew, I think. Thank you.

[He reached for the handkerchief to dab at his cheeks once more, and then kept it held in his fingers.]