Just because something is expected doesn't make it any easier to bear in the moment. There were many long nights in the aftermath of the Ring War, when she was sitting vigil at her sister's bedside, when she was lying in her bedroll on the march back to Edoras, when she was sitting awake at her window and listening to the newly-made widows wailing their grief, that she had wished for someone to turn to, someone who could hold her even for a little while, even though they could not fix what was wrong.

It had been hard to allow herself to need anything or anyone when she was in charge of a third of her uncle's army. Now that she's in charge of the entire country...

"It's alright." Her voice is steady, at least, even if she does sound somewhat subdued as she reaches for the laces of his shirt. "I just thought you should know." That someone was thinking of him, that someone might miss him when he dies.