Without protest, but with a little fumbling, Martin's hand closed over Ico's, not much bigger than the boy's. He'd always been small, after all. With his free hand, he swiped under an itchy eyelid and then blinked, looking down where Ico looked, still smiling faintly in the afterthought of the laugh.

"Oh...Well, yes," he admitted, with a little chuckle in his own breath. "I guess that's why I was sitting. There's a lot of sharp things on the ground up here."