[ Even though small her smile warms her features. Some of the Summoned are blessed or cursed with others from their own world. He wonders if this person who makes her smile is someone from home, or someone she was drawn to here. Either way, he nods in an approving kind of way. It's good. ]

I made a friend in Thorne. [ Jack. His own smile goes wry. ] Nothing I say seems to faze him.

[ Some months ago he couldn't imagine having a friend like that.

He closes his eyes, lifting his face toward sun so that he can feel the warmth of it on his skin. In Thorne the days are getting shorter in these months, the light fading faster. ]

I worry, though. About him, and some of the others. [ Tilting his head to look at her with a slight frown. This is a thought that is unescapable, a heavy anchor back to reality. Libertas was months ago now, but the aftermath still hangs heavily. ] Not all of them are prepared for what a war will bring.

[ Not the way she understands what it's like. ]