"You must miss her a lot. I know I miss my parents, and my grandparents. That's nothing to be sorry about, Dolemeck. It's just... human nature, I guess." Ilya looked at him and tried to fish for comforting words. "I didn't mean to upset you. I should've picked my words more carefully." He wants to put a comforting hand on the other boy's shoulder, but he's not sure how that would go over, so instead he settles for adding, "I'm sorry," in a soft, genuinely sad tone of voice.