"I'd bet rations she understood," she says quietly after a moment. Carefully.

"I'm sure it still hurt and she was still upset, but I don't see how she couldn't have understood. That's how it has to go. The first generation wants things better for the next."

She guesses. It's trite and it feels like something placating, but it's one of the things she hopes can still be true. Like Carver wanted better than fighting and starving and hurting for Matthew.