"That's good."

"Yeah."

"It's perfectly reasonable to hate us and this, and you've been super helpful despite it. I don't mean to be saying you should be different."

"Still don't hate you. It's just - a hard situation. Or something. I guess."

"Should I just - stop -"

"Nah. Gets old, never talking to anyone older than eight. Not that Verita isn't great, just."

"Friends back home wouldn't even be safe to write?"

"They mostly don't exist. Or exist little enough that it'd be weird to write them. Kanir, I guess, but I don't - he shouldn't have to deal with this."

"I guess raising two kids alone doesn't leave a lot of time for - stuff."

"Yeah. And I didn't really want to - have any stuff that I'd be tempted to put before them, I guess. And didn't want to attract anybody's attention until Verita knew how to be smart about stuff. And I guess just had to spend a lot of time working anyway. Not that I'm complaining, I made the choices I made, just - yeah."

"Sorry Verita didn't get a more local rescuer, I guess."

"Meh. None of the other places seemed super great either."

"I think people like what they're used to, mostly, as long as it's stable."

"If we were dodging cultists in Cheliax we would have been caught, sooner or later."

Nod. Limp. 

" - how badly did you hurt yourself?"

"I probably broke the toe. Fazil will make fun of me and fix it."

"Well, it's good one of your best friends is a cleric."

"Couldn't live without him and he knows it."

Aww.

"Thanks," she says, as they're coming up on the apartment. "For - talking to me. I guess."

"I like you." He immediately looks kind of worried about having said this. "I don't want anything and I won't be angry about you ignoring me and I'm not trying to seduce you, at all, zero, I just - think you're an interesting person to talk to. Like my grandfather."

"...okay. Well. That's good to know."

Limp limp limp.

"What happened?" he asks when they get home.

"I kicked a cobblestone. Did you spend all your spells?"