It has an effect on him. Makes him think again of his sister, the details of her face blurred in his memory after two decades - sometimes replaced by the empty sockets and child-sized bones held together by copper wire, all that was left of her small body when the nuns were done carving the flesh away. But for a second he sees her large dark eyes looking up at him now through Inej as her hand reaches for his own.
He squeezes her hand back, smiling in spite of himself and bowing his head slightly in agreement. This is important, too.
It'd be a disservice to both to mistake them for each other - his sister and this young woman, and he doesn't. But the echoes remain, along with the warmth he's started to feel toward her in these few short meetings.
After a long, quiet moment he ventures a question again.
"Did you come here with people from your world? Or have you found people here?" Either way, it sounds like she's not alone when she's outside of Horizon, which is good.
cw: vague description of ritual sacrifice of children
He squeezes her hand back, smiling in spite of himself and bowing his head slightly in agreement. This is important, too.
It'd be a disservice to both to mistake them for each other - his sister and this young woman, and he doesn't. But the echoes remain, along with the warmth he's started to feel toward her in these few short meetings.
After a long, quiet moment he ventures a question again.
"Did you come here with people from your world? Or have you found people here?" Either way, it sounds like she's not alone when she's outside of Horizon, which is good.