(The sight of him crying tamps the anger so suddenly she feels like she has whiplash. She stops in front of the bubble, staring at him and his fist slams into the surface near her face. She doesn't flinch; her expression crumples, and she reaches out, touches the curve of the bubble with her fingertips.

She can hardly speak for the lump in her throat.)

I couldn't– (She has to stop, close her eyes for a long moment, try to collect herself. She can hear him crying on the other side of the shield, slightly muffled, and her heart feels like it might break from the pain of it.)

I didn't know where to put you. I– you deserve, always, to be loved, Taako, and I couldn't think of anywhere else to leave you but at the stagecoach. I wanted you to be– (she blinks, hard, and has to thumb away a tear that snakes down her cheek,) surrounded by people who would always adore you, admire you. I wanted everybody in the world to see you, or to have a chance to know you as I did.

(But she can understand the loneliness of that decision, the absence of Lup tearing at him. A life on the road that was, perhaps, not always so glamorous. She exhales shakily and wipes her eyes before closing them, exhausted. But his tone turned pleading makes her eyes snap open again and she slowly shakes her head.) I didn't.