They spent that first night among the ruins around a fire built low in the shelter of the old great hall's broken walls, Thessaly's people bringing out simple food and blankets with a warmth that Elena had rarely experienced anywhere, let alone in a place she'd only just discovered existed. Children she hadn't noticed at first peeked out from behind their parents' legs, wide eyed and curious, and an older man pressed a bowl of stew into her hands before she'd even found a place to sit, muttering something about how a girl who'd survived silver rounds needed a proper meal more than she needed formal introductions.
It was such a small, ordinary kindness that it nearly undid her entirely. Elena could not remember the last time a stranger had simply fed her without expecting something in retu
