"I've been bound to a train since I was born," he admits. "Not like an engineer is, not like I will be once we reach there, but train is in my blood as surer than those words're in yours."

He's quiet, contemplative, for more than a few minutes. "And if you want the whole answer, no. If I wind up as a face made up of engine dials, I'll be more'n a tad upset. Leastways, if it happens the second we reach Terminus. I'd like to have a long life with Sasha. She'll need someone to help clear the way out of Terminus, somebody to help guide her, be her friend. I want to help recruit a new crew to care for her, help find conductors, coalmen, mechanics, and so on. She'll be the hub of a new city, a new series of families, and I want to be part of that. Want to help commission and design her cars, maybe have a say in the stained glass, keep the nerds from getting too carried away with flamethrowers and claw arms. 

"If I get that? That life full of family? If at the end of that, I become part of Sasha? I think I could be okay with that."