Despite the tightness in her chest, Sariatu can't help but laugh at Dave's train of speech as it careens down the tracks and off the rails.

"You have quite the way with words," she says. "My son would like you."

But then, much like his initial mention of his brother, she strikes ahead in the conversation. She's not ready to talk about Kubo yet, she thinks. Soon. He'd been the best son a mother could wish for, strong and brave and kind and sincere, but for now that memory was hers alone.

It felt too much like she was accepting the possibility of the moon king finding him and stealing his eye and his compassion if she told stories about him as a person she once knew.

"For a rainy day, then. I'll hold you to that, you know."