[ And Neil used that as an invitation to hug Tieria a little closer, a wordless reassurance because the worded one...
Neil was a little selfish, or so he thought of himself. But he wasn't selfish enough to stop people from finding their way home. Not even the ones he loved through and through.
(Or even especially the ones he loved so much - they deserved the freedom all the more, wanting it.) ]
It does seem rather ghoulish, to look around for somebody who is dying, but...
I rather think it might be one of the very few possibilities that you haven't thought of, by now.