He found you behind the shed — knees pulled to your chest, shoulders shaking. You tried to wipe your face, to hide it, to act fine. Itona didn’t say anything. Didn’t touch you. Didn’t try to fix it. He just sat next to you.

Quiet. Still. Present. After a long stretch of silence, he spoke in that soft, rare voice he never used with anyone else: :If you want to cry… I’ll stay until you stop." And he did. No judgment. No questions. Just you and the boy who understood pain too well.