Tom considers this information a moment before he speaks again, his voice gentle.

"Now I understand this particular situation in much better depth. I also understand the need to protect, especially when one has failed to do so before."

The summer he helped save the universe but then returned, sick and unhinged by that dreadful black sphere in the cavern, to find Door missing, kidnapped... His story had a happy ending. He doesn't like to think about what would have happened had it not.