The first response sticks in his throat, flippant and inappropriate and above all unfair. He doesn't really feel obliged to reach out simply because Sparhawk has; he's wary of trying, and there's a reason that he hasn't mentioned that particular conversation to anyone. Not even Candice got to hear about it, because Martel is so prepared for this failure that he's making it unimportant in advance.

"We were at peace, or close enough to it, when I died. And I was exhausted beyond the telling."

It seems more like the start of an answer than the whole of one.