His reaction makes Rapunzel frown sympathetically and she reaches up to rub between his shoulder blades, expecting something like this. What takes her by surprise is what he says next, even though it probably shouldn’t.

Her breath catches and she goes still, eyes stinging as her lower lip wobbles.

“They don’t leave,” she admits with a trembling voice. “Sometimes people just disappear without any warning. I—“ She pauses and swallows hard. “We don’t know where they go.”