"We get our strength from those around us," Roland agreed, rather meditatively. "Trying to live life alone is like trying to build a wall out of one stone. It won't fall, but you won't achieve jackshit with it, either."

He fell silent for a moment, considering. At last, he added quietly, "I wouldn't hold too strong to anything he said tonight. Most of his strength came down with Gilead. You aren't the only one like to be thinking it would hurt less to stand alone."

And he knew that feeling very, very intimately.