[It's nice knowing he won't have to make those steps alone. Fern is almost positive he wouldn't be able to do that, he'd probably just end up backsliding even harder than ever. The possibility of that not being an inevitability is kind of encouraging, and after a moment he speaks up when he realizes that this should be a two-way street.]

I hope you're thinking about it too, after the whole mess from this month.

[Varian needs it more than he does right now, honestly. His own behaviour wasn't great, but it's nothing compared to how hard Varian actually did backslide.]

The town didn't make you into anything you're not, but you're also a lot more than that. I know you are.