[ Jesper is usually a swaggering roguish troublemaker who always seems to have it together and he is ready to laugh the world away. It's a persona that is mostly true to him, but there is this part of him too, locked away. A side that not many see, the young Grisha underneath, born different and taught to fear. At another time he might've flirted or joked with her, but when she touches his hands, he looks startled and very young in that moment. He's not used to being comforted over the hurt this deep inside.

He feels this deep connection suddenly click and wonders if this is what it would have been like if he ever told Nina before, if he let her actually talk to him about their shared powers, instead of brushed it off with a laugh. ]

I'm sorry for you and your brother. I was able to hide, but most of my kind wasn't able to.

[ He misses her hands when they're gone but he appreciates the gesture. He doesn't look up at her as he starts morphing the rock again, transmutation is definitely a correct term for it as it seems to change under his fingers again. ]

My mother was zowa, that's the term she used, it means blessed. She died saving someone with her powers.

[ Jesper almost never talks about his mother, but he's caught in this moment, enough to speak of it, even with how much it still hurts him. The rock hardens again and he offers her a very small dirt-speckled stone flower. ]

Are you ever afraid of them, even now?