There's a reason no one has ever come back from the Search. It is dangerous. If you do not lose your body, you will lose your mind. And if you don't know how to come back, if you don't even remember you want to, is home even home anymore?
There's a reason people continue performing the Search. Amidst every loss, we still believe, somewhere within us, that they're out there. That they did not suffer the same fate. That we can find them. In the face of all of it, we believe we can find them.
When hope fails, as it well might, one is reminded that this quest is not for the Princess and Princept, and it is not for the King. It is a quest for Akademos, a quest for honor, a quest for the oath we swore to our church and our country.