Stiffening in shock when the boy sat next to her she relaxed moments later, a smile pulling at her the corners of her mouth as she watched his toes wriggle and legs flail as he swept them through the air. It was such a trivial thing but watching him right then made her happier than she had been in a long time. Moments later the happiness had yet to flee her, as had become common in past years, and was doing quite the opposite. It was growing, curling into a tiny ball of warmth (contentment she thought) and settling into her stomach.
Half-tempted to reach out and ruffle his hair, still an absolute mess from his earlier bath, she refrained at the last minute and simply watched him. He was attempting to comfort her. It was surprisingly sweet and it was not something she had expected from him. Eyes soft she listened to him, nodding along as he spoke, patiently waiting for him to say what he needed to.
The physical injuries the young boy had sustained on his journey to the Tower were plain to see, had been glaringly obvious in fact, and even covered as he was bruises and cuts still snaked across exposed flash for all to see. Less obvious were the damages that went beyond the corporeal and oh how he Constans had suffered on that front.
It was impossible to look away from him; her eyes refused to blink and she simply could not, no matter how hard she tried, tear her gaze away from his form. It was as if she was glimpsing a peek at something so startlingly rare, beautiful and fragile and somehow so much stronger than anything she had seen before. Looking at him then she knew that he would be able to make it. He was a tough kid.
“Your mother sounds like she was a very strong woman but I imagine,” she started, voice little more than a murmur, “that you were a better teacher than you are giving yourself credit for. Your brother probably loved getting to spend all that time with you.”
Falling silent for a moment, long enough to smile softly and shake her head at antics long since passed, and began to speak once more. “When I was young I tried to soak up all of my brothers’ attention as if I would die without, granted I was quite an obnoxious little twit, always had to be the center of attention. Very spoiled.” Wrinkling her nose in distaste she leaned back on her arms, head turned towards the ceiling. “I have… had three older brothers.” Head tilting down to catch his eye she continued, “What about you? Do you just have the one?”