Oh. There it was. That F-word.

Friends.

Something that Knuckles was still terribly new to, and frankly didn't know how to go about making. Frankly, he couldn't entirely have said how he'd ended up with a couple of them back in Green Hills, not beyond 'comrades in arms' or something to that effect.

"Then you rely on them." There was no judgment, just matter of fact observation. "But what if they were not around?"