The boy she sees now is still scared underneath the hard mask of his vindictive anger, but he is not helpless. He has weapons to fight against fear. Chief among them, the fire he directs with a steady hand from stalk to vine to root in a burning crescent. To him, it represents strength and safety — the things he lacked back then.

"I know," he answers. Not dismissive, but serious. He has learned that fire is a double-edged sword, capable of destruction as easily as protection, and so he has learned to master it so that it can't cut him again. "I've got this."

His eyes flick back to Ciri.

"Do you want a turn?"

She may have handled their circumstances better than he had, but this place and all its pain had to have seeped into her too.