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Phae stared at hi He could have rebuked her for running away despite his warning He could have justified himself in countless ways For a

She looked down at her hands in her lap, struggling with her dread "Why do you even care?" she asked

"Because you are harh to prove ht out of…fear I lost control That has been happening tostarted to quicken He shook his head

"Fear?" Phae asked, perplexed "Nothing can har by a hundred bees and then jumped off the roof Trasen shot an arrow at you and it didn’t even pierce you Look at you now Your clothes are torn, but the bear didn’t harm you You were afraid? Of what?"

The Kishion stared down at the rass He plucked one and twirled the stalk between his fingers "When I ahts are always cal and how to interpret s and the emotions of others But I aht now, and I have found those thoughts and feelings less certain and--" He paused, thinking how to stay it "This will not make sense to you Neverout to touch his arhten me for certain You are not…afraid of me are you?"

He met her eyes for a moment then looked down "I’m afraid of my past Of what I cannot re to open up to her She had always had a natural gift for h she was terrified of the Kishion, her natural empathy had caused her to respond to his words, his confusion Thehiing nod for him to continue

"A Kishion does not have a name We do not have a past I do not knohere I was born I cannot reo when I was suain"

She stared at hi her expression neutral "Were you an orphan?"

"I assuic that binds me to the Kishion steals my meic, in sodo of Wayland has several headsmen, paid to execute those who violate his laws That is e are That is what I am But the toll is heavy for uilt of our actions by stripping away the mehed deeply "It helps, to be sure But there is so able to remember how vicious you truly s that you would not wish to remember The fact that I can’t means that I must suspect or wonder at what I have done"

Phae’s stoht "You have no past," she said with a frown "With the bad ood as well"

"If there were any," he replied ine such an existence Her entire life was a series of shared memories that had bound her to the Winemillers and all of her adopted brothers and sisters What would it be like to not rerapes at harvest tied Stripping them all aould be a terrible punish h she had the power to

The sun peeked over therays into her eyes She saw the tattered shirt hanging over the Kishion’s body She fu around inside for aa spare shirt she had packed It would not fit hiest it But at the botto needle set inside Master Wines

"Lethi"

"I can get a new shirt in the city"

"How far it is to Kenatos? I think it will take a week to get there, if I remember correctly By horse it is faster"

The Kishion’s mouth twitched "We will be there in two days at the most"