"I think I would as well," Mathias says, though he has no real way of knowing this for sure, nothing to compare it to. At his heart, though, he knows himself and he knows what he prefers, how he drifts along in life. "My brother would have liked it, I think. Henrich was always very curious about people, he always wanted to know what they were thinking, what they might say if they were given the chance. He was never content to just be around someone without filling the silence."

It had driven Mathias crazy even when they fit together so well. At times, Henrich would talk and talk, and Mathias would want nothing more than to sit in silence, but other times, it was Henrich's outgoing nature that brought them places and introduced them to new friends. Of course, he thinks, it was Henrich's tendency to talk to everyone that led to his death.