"She was different," he said, is head beginning to turn with his gaze. His tone, too, became more absent and distant. "Like a different person than the one I knew. I never saw her fight until then. I never imagined what it would be like to see her kill something."

Martin looked back, a bland smile on his face. "Me, either. I couldn't imagine it."

But that was done now – like Bariyan said. That thought stirred him a little and he blinked, twitching a little out of his daze. He felt his face warm up a little, as if rambling that way were something to be embarrassed by.

"But she was very good to me," he said quickly, his eyes bigger. "Believe that. I wasn't surrounded by bad things. She worked very hard. So did my father. I only didn't...think about it that way very much. Much at all."