[ Tatara remains perfectly in place in Day's hold, and doesn't move. His breathing is deliberately even as he tries to keep a handle on himself, and his eyes remain flat, and open. If he blinks, he thinks to himself, he might cry. And he doesn't want to do that.

Dream-Tatara mumbles to himself as his death nears, and Tatara remembers saying all of this. It's himself, after all. He can carefully trace the lines of his own thoughts and knows his conclusion.

So he says it again, in tandem with his dream self, to assure Day: ]

I was...happy...

[ Not about his death, of course. But— ]

My life wasn't perfect, but it felt like it was... I had everything I needed, and everything I wanted. I just...

[ He pauses to bite his lip again. ]

...wish I could've wished her happy birthday.