Well, thanking his nonna made as much sense as it didn't, so Soh simply nodded. As Mateo steered them through the streets, it was enough for her to just focus on putting one foot in front of the other, given how quickly he was tugging her along. Eventually, they slowed a little, and Soh was able to catch her breath. Looking around, she recognized that they were growing closer to the Falling and further from the Silk Houses, and she took a deep breath to steady herself. Maybe she would wake up in the morning to find that all of this had simply been a bad dream. But the sting of her blossoming black eye and the taste of blood from her split lip quickly banished that notion. If this was a dream, how could she possibly feel like everything was so real?
"I - I was eating at The Red Lion," she told him, in a voice that sounded distant in her ears. "I was on my way home when that man - he said I'd dropped something, but when he got close to me - " She shivered, thinking of the way she'd been shoved into the alley, where she couldn't have hoped to escape. "At first he just tried to rob me, but then - I think - I think he was trying to -" She shuddered again, fear coloring her voice. She couldn't say it, but the implication of what the man had tried to do to her was there. "I tried to fight back, but he pinned me against the wall, so I - I -" She was shaking now, as she relived her worst nightmare. "I was just trying to get him to let go," she said pleadingly, tears coursing down her face. "I thought if I stabbed him, maybe he would get off me and I could run away. I never meant to -" To kill him. Or nearly kill him. Wasn't it the same thing?
"I - I was eating at The Red Lion," she told him, in a voice that sounded distant in her ears. "I was on my way home when that man - he said I'd dropped something, but when he got close to me - " She shivered, thinking of the way she'd been shoved into the alley, where she couldn't have hoped to escape. "At first he just tried to rob me, but then - I think - I think he was trying to -" She shuddered again, fear coloring her voice. She couldn't say it, but the implication of what the man had tried to do to her was there. "I tried to fight back, but he pinned me against the wall, so I - I -" She was shaking now, as she relived her worst nightmare. "I was just trying to get him to let go," she said pleadingly, tears coursing down her face. "I thought if I stabbed him, maybe he would get off me and I could run away. I never meant to -" To kill him. Or nearly kill him. Wasn't it the same thing?
