Jeron was as still as the trees around him, his eyes assessing this laughing girl warily. No one had ever laughed at him before. 

No, that wasn’t true.

[i]Maura laughed, her smile wide, the joy in her eyes twinkling even in the darkness of night. She pulled back some of her frizzy hair even as the wind teased it from her head scarf, refusing to be hidden and confined, like the rest of her. Only eight years of age and already she held more compassion and understanding than any elder Jeron knew. For her to laugh around him instead of run away was astonishing and altogether fascinating. 

“You’re so weird sometimes, but it’s funny. I like it. No one makes me laugh like you do.”[/i]

Jeron looked away. This woman, whoever she was, was not Maura. He knew with certainty that if he lowered his cowl and revealed his face, she would react like all the rest of them—with fear, with anger, with ignorance. So, why was she laughing? Her words her difficult to follow, and he dared to pull his focus away from this stranger long enough to chew on her heavy dialect. He wasn’t used to anyone talking to him. What did she…?

He sighed, breaking his stillness, and brought up his guard once more. “It’s true,” he remarked defensively, hoping he understood her well enough to respond correctly. “The danger out there really is worse than anything in here. But [i]you[/i] wouldn’t know. You probably were never captured, strung up, enduring beatings and all manner of torture just because you look like someone that could harm your children. You were never told words that cut so deep you felt like your soul was bleeding, of how vile and worthless you are, every single day, for reasons you still do not understand. You’ve never been unanimously [i]hated.[/i] You—“

He cut himself off, gasping in mortification of the way he let himself go, trembling in shock. He had let his emotions get the best of him. At any time, she could have lunged at him, all because he was distracted. By things he could not change.

Subconsciously, he rubbed at his wrists where the rope burns still stung his skin, a reminder of what letting his guard down at any time meant. He had to pull himself together.

“Take me to the dragon that resides in this forest,” he said with as much confidence as he could muster.