The silence that followed her question was not cruel. It was heavy. Old.
The kind of silence carried by a man who had spent his life learning that trust was just the first step toward betrayal.
His eyes never left her as she spoke. He listened to every word. Every confession.
That praise, and knowing that he can see where she's carving a path through the horrors, makes every suffering step worthwhile.
She doesn't break her gaze from him as he speaks, as if committing every word to memory, to learn from it, use it as a means to keep her nerve.
--