[Eric smiles, and gives up on fighting the grin that tentatively stumbles onto his face after an instant. He shakes his head.]

From that point on, it was as though I'd never had that... lapse of madness. We were almost brothers, more than that if I'm honest. I swore to protect him when we were both very young, I'd promised his father, and... for as long as I could, I did.

[The grin falls back, becoming a somewhat bittersweet smile.]

He is strong, and kind, and... very American, in the best of ways. Very direct in his speech, slow to anger, quick to make friends. Absolutely the greatest man to have at your back in a fight. [And yet.]