[van Zieks hesitates for a moment, before tentatively placing his own hands at Sylvando's waist.]

I suppose... not quite a decade, but close.
[He sighs.]

After Klint was murdered, I suppose I really stopped living myself. How stupid is that, really?
[He laughs oddly genuinely, with the bombshell he just casually dropped. His older brother, who he likened to a dashing knight, in whose footsteps he'd followed to uphold the law. That man that he clearly looked up to so much had been killed. Lame to be hung up on that!!!

Also OOC: I accidentally wrote murderered at first which I fixed but isn't actually really wrong if you think about it.]