I deserve to be here. I need to be here. Kori has been nothing but kind to me; she saved me.

Even as he felt like he was being suffocated by the world’s cruelty, Kori’s kindness helped him breathe. She helped him hone his skills--reading, writing, math, and even sewing--to prepare him for the world, should he ever be freed, she dried his tears when he cried, and she encouraged him to be brave, even when he was afraid he would never be freed, by telling him grand stories of heroes. One story stood out to him in particular, one she had told him when he was seven-years-old. She had pulled his blankets up around his chin, and read him a story after drying his tears. “Luis was a grand hero—a dragon slayer, and…”

“I want to be a hero!” Eory interrupted. “I want to be a hero like you!”

Kori grinned. “Me? A hero?”

“You saved me! I would have been beheaded if not for you!” Eory replied, mispronouncing ‘beheaded.’

And Kori replied with tears in her eyes, “you are far too kind… I have done little except keep you safe.”

She was modest. She had saved him from the beheading that befell his brother and parents, and had loved him, despite knowing the evil that festered deep down in his soul like it did for all of his ancestors, even if it hadn’t manifested yet.

He found his gaze drawn, once again, by one of the pictures he had drawn of Pollyann. He pushed down his regrets and loathing of the fact that he would never be able to meet her.

She was his fantasy. He had lived most of his life in a fantasy with her because there was nothing to live for in his confined reality.

His mouth turned ever gradually into a hideous grimace as he blamed Kori for all his woes. even though he loved her, she was only one around who he could blame, as she was the only one who visited.

__

Kori picked up some presents from the market on her way to see Eory. She had some very good news to tell him--news that she previously thought she would never be able to share with him.

Time and again, she had come before the new king of the human kingdom of Maribel, Laurence, and begged him to give her charge—her beloved son—a chance to live outside his tower, but Laurence always refused. Not enough evidence that Eory was not evil, he would always say.

She had plied the king with what she considered to be sufficient evidence that Eory did not have the evilness buried in his soul that his ancestors did. Sweet pictures he had drawn, testimony of his social skills, compassion for Kori’s feelings, and correct answers to ethical questions.

So often, she had kneeled upon the verdant carpet spreading from the throneLaurence sat upon to the entrance to the throne room, and said, “Your Majesty, Eory shows no signs of an evil nature. He greets me kindly everytime I visit, he cleans his room as I command, he has learned his letters and numbers and is an excellent and kind student. His social graces are better than any peasant’s and indeed, better than most nobles’. I implore you to give him just one chance outside of his tower.”

But the king would always meet her pleas with the same answer. “You have no proof that he will not harm or kill anyone if he is released. I know it is your job as the Redeemer to redeem criminals as it has always been, but this one is simply too dangerous to merely trust your judgement with.”

No proof existed, and the king knew it. Kori had always held out hope that she could change his mind, but it had been waning as of late, and her heart was broken because of it. On one of her recent visits to her charge, she had broken down in tears while Eory slept and murmured in his ear, I can’t ever free you.

But the Waif God, Sherne, had blessed her with a miracle. Upon her recent consultation with Laurence, he had finally given in and granted her her wish; Eory could go free. She didn’t know why and she didn’t care. She just knew she couldn’t wait to tell Eory.