Washington Black and Titch’s reunion in the desert is not a simple restoration of their former closeness: it brings Washington face to face with the unanswered questions of his abandonment and forces Titch to acknowledge how their relationship began. The encounter moves from the unease of seeing one another again to a direct challenge about being chosen, used, and treated as family, while a confession about Philip reveals another source of Titch’s remorse.

The Reunion and Its Unfinished Questions

Titch welcomes Washington’s arrival with astonishment, but Washington notices fear or unease in his eyes. The emotional imbalance is present from the start: Titch is surprised that Washington has come so far, while Washington has travelled with questions that cannot be answered by the fact of reunion alone.

Washington asks what Titch meant when he said he had dreamed of him. The question points toward Titch’s account of the northern camp, where he had spoken as if he had been among the others and able to see them. Washington wants to know where Titch really went after leaving his father’s camp and why the search party never found him. Titch does not answer immediately, and the reunion remains unsettled by the disappearance that preceded it.

Why Titch Chose Washington

Washington names the moment his questions return to: the first evening, when he and Big Kit were serving dinner to Titch’s brother. Titch had selected him deliberately, saying that Washington was the right size for the Cloud-cutter. Washington understands the practical reason as ballast, and asks why Titch chose him before they knew one another.

Titch confirms that Washington’s size was indeed the reason for that initial choice; he does not claim that the practical calculation was invented later. He distinguishes it, however, from the reasons he subsequently engaged Washington to help with experiments and befriended him. Washington’s grasp of complex equations, Titch says, was rare. When Washington objects to being called a thing, Titch corrects himself: Washington was a rare person.

Titch then says that he treated Washington as family. The declaration does not settle their history. Washington recognizes both that Titch saved him from certain death and risked his own comfort, family’s love, and reputation in opposing the suffering on which his family’s power depended, and that Titch still had the ability to hurt him. The reunion therefore holds gratitude and injury together rather than allowing one to erase the other.

Titch’s Account of Philip

Titch also begins to explain what happened in the North by looking further back, to his childhood with Erasmus and Philip. He says that the three boys were close, but that he and Erasmus did not regard Philip as their equal because Philip’s family was poorer and his manners less refined. Their teasing, Titch admits, went beyond childish mockery: he and Erasmus locked Philip overnight in a disused room and abandoned him naked during an outing after making him cry.

Titch recounts this history as an admission of shame, not as an excuse. It gives context to the guilt that bears on his account of the North, while showing a pattern he must face: affection and companionship existed alongside humiliation and unequal power. His confession does not make Washington’s questions disappear, but it places the reunion within a broader effort by Titch to explain his past conduct.

A Gesture Without a Final Resolution

Washington answers Titch’s disclosures by questioning whether anyone can know the full truth of another person’s life or suffering. He adds that a person can at least try not to make that suffering worse. The exchange shifts the conversation from a demand for complete understanding to a more limited responsibility: recognition may remain incomplete, but that does not excuse avoidable harm.

After they fall silent, Washington rises and gently places a hand on Titch’s shoulder. The gesture offers care without declaring the past resolved. Titch later lies down to sleep beside the boy, while Washington remains awake in the dark. The scene ends with proximity, exhaustion, and quiet rather than a full reconciliation; the reunion makes renewed contact possible, but leaves the deepest questions between them open.