Raafi goes to pet him, hesitantly -

    "Gentle," Figment puts in.

"Of course." And he is quite gentle, running a hand down his back. "Thin - he'd benefit from a healing spell, at this point - you can probably turn it around without one but it'll be risky, if he's not familiar with what he should be eating."

One tilts his head slightly, and shivers a little under the gentle hand, and is carefully watching the cleric without really seeming to watch him.

"If you think that's best," Rogeiros agrees, almost impassively.

"Mmhmm. Let's see if there's anything else going on - I'm going to look at your feet and then your mouth, sweetheart," he says, and reaches for one of his forepaws.

One obediently lets him inspect each of his paws in turn, and when he's finished, opens his mouth without prompting.

"-did you train him to do that?"

Rogeiros' lips have pressed together, perhaps in surprise? "I did not."

"Sweetie, can you... go over and touch the wall and come back?"

One hestitates for a brief moment - and yes, his eyes flicker to Rogeiros - before he does exactly that.

"That's, uh, pretty decisive that he understands the language. Which means he counts as a person, ethically speaking."

Rogeiros does not look particularly pleased with that revelation. "I see," he says tightly, watching One as though this is his fault.

One shrinks in on himself some - he hadn't meant to give that away.

"You haven't done anything wrong, sweetheart. Do you talk?"

-He really doesn't want to answer that, and his eyes flicker between the two men, backing away a tiny bit.

"Hey, it's all right, nobody's going to hurt you." And to Rogeiros: "I think I need to speak to him privately, if you don't mind."

There's a moment when it looks like Rogeiros is going to argue, and then nods, a little discontently. "Very well." And he leaves.

One, meanwhile, has tucked himself into a ball.

And Figment has snuggled back up and draped a wing over him.

"It's all right, sweetheart, take your time. I mean it that you haven't done anything wrong, though, and that nobody's going to hurt you - I won't let them, all right? You don't need to worry about it, I'll take care of it."

One's head pokes out from his ball, but he doesn't uncurl, and he stays tucked against Figment.

"I know this is scary, but - it's important, okay? It's important that you get to live your own life. That you have a chance to find someplace where you're safe and happy, that you aren't stuck here. That - you matter, you know, just as much as anybody else does, just as much as he does. He's unhappy right now, but it seems like you've probably been unhappy for a long time, and if nothing changed you would have just kept on being unhappy, and it's better for him to be unhappy for a little while than for you to be unhappy forever."

He makes a low, uncertain whining sound, and looks to Figment as though the griffon will have an answer.

She shifts a little closer. "Still scary. But - better." She pets the top of his head with her beak. "Bad, here."

One is quiet for a moment long. "Didn't like me...mimicking." His voice is very quiet, and he flinches when he's finished talking.

"Sometimes people think that if they can pretend that something isn't true, that's the same as it not being true. It really isn't, though."