Collette clings to him past the awkward bulk of the crate, not caring if it digs into her, nor caring overmuch if it digs into him. She feels her tears well up and spill down her cheeks, hot and warm, relieving even as they start off the slow process that'll leave her congested and sniffling.

"You're real, you're really here! We kept looking for you, me and Kate, and I know Koltira had to too, and Bariyan before he was gone, and and -- and we couldn't find you, we met your sister but not you and the thing that had her said the most horrible things but you're he-here," she hiccups, so hapyp that it unwinds all the tension that's been making shadows dance behind her eyes since she first came up to the moon, an unwilling transport. "I'm not dreaming, am I? I'm not going to wake up and this won't be real?"

Her voice cracks as she asks; please be as real as anything can be around here. She's lost people, they all lose people, that it makes even the promise of one returning priceless. Especially someone she likes.