"...Tell me who that man was." Kalena hugged her knees to her chest, sitting upon the stone floor of a strange building. Only the faintest sliver of light crept through the windows, and aside from a slab that could only vaguely be called a "bed" and a bookshelf filled with scripture, there was no furniture to be found.

"That? THAT was our dear ol' dad."

"You're lying. Papa isn't like that."

"Not to you he wasn't. But he wasn't so kind to me."

"..."

The boy scratched his head, glancing about his surroundings. Kalena kept her gaze down, trying to ignore her growling stomach.

"...What are you looking for?"

"An escape route, obviously."

"Why? That woman will be back soon, she'll bring food..."

"And ice-cold holy water, and an hour of verbal abuse."

Kalena trembled and hung her head. Her legs shackled her like lead, as the freezing marble burned her skin. She couldn't escape her pain anymore.

"But where else can we go? Mama and papa don't want us anymore."

"I don't know. Away. The forest, maybe."

"To be killed by the thralls?"

"So we should wait here to die, instead? You know that tasteless scrap of bread isn't enough to live on."

"I don't know..."

"Tch." He braced his fist against the wall, a fire in his eyes seeming to light up the dormitory. "I'll get us out of this mess. I swear it."