Re-l listened to him shout. She wanted to yell back, to tell him that he wasn't the only person to ever feel pain, that everyone suffered, that he shouldn't count himself unique because he was hurting.

A memory struck her, of the first time she'd been knocked down during her training. It had hurt like hell, and she'd lain on the mat, thinking to herself that she was damned if she would go through for years of this. But she hadn't had a choice. She'd got back up, lost again, and eventually she had won. What she remembered most of all was that moment of bitterness. How much worse would that be, if you had never felt any pain at all? If you'd never had a scrape, never banged a knee? Unwanted sympathy welled up in the pit of her stomach. Vincent had had to learn to be Ergo. If it were the other way around, would he have done better?

"It's not always this hard," she said loudly, not turning around. "The pain doesn't last. Just don't fight it. You don't have to climb the ravine in one day. No one is going to die if you take a break." She drew on her training. "Let yourself feel the pain. Don't fight it. Know that it's there, know that it hurts. Accept it. And remember that it won't last forever." She paused, and then added, "and go to sleep. Rest is the best thing for healing."