Harper took the plate from her, and Soh murmured a quiet thanks, holding her teacup in her lap as she gazed at the liquid inside, suddenly unable to meet Harper's eyes. She didn't want to cry anymore. She'd spent most of the past week crying - and it was beginning to make her angry. It was a foreign feeling to the cheerful young woman of her past, and she hated that the man who'd attacked her had brought her to this. And that hatred scared her more than anything else she might have been through.
She bit her lip in thought, twisting her teacup this way and that to watch the tea inside shift and swirl. When Harper shuffled closer, she looked up in surprise, but she didn't protest as he wrapped an arm around her, instead leaning against his chest with a soft sigh. He was right. She should start at the beginning.
And, just as she'd anticipated, silent tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she began. She swiped them away angrily. "I think what upsets me the most is that I was stupid and naive," she said. "I went out to eat in the Silk Houses. I'd heard rumors about the area, but I just... didn't think anything would ever happen to me." She stared at her tea, stuck somewhere between sad, angry, and numb.
"I was working on a new map, and I lost track of time, so it was dark when I left the restaurant. I thought I'd take a shortcut home." She spoke softly, emotionlessly, almost as if in a trance. "I was walking home and somebody called out that I dropped something, so I stopped, and this man -" She swallowed, the man's face flashing before her eyes. She started to tremble. "He - he pushed me into an alley and he told me to give him my money, so I did, but then -" She paused, trying and failing to just breathe.
She forced herself to continue. "But then, h-he grabbed me, and I t-tried to fight back." She was crying now, her voice thickening with emotion. "But I d-didn't bring my staff with me, and I wasn't s-strong enough." She wasn't sure how to describe the way the man had punched her, dragged her by the hair, backhanded her. "I - I thought he was - I thought he was going to -" But she couldn't say it, not even to Harper. Still, it was clear enough to anyone with sense what the man had intended.
She shuddered on, her breath coming in short sobs. "I had my dagger and I - I managed to draw it and I - I stabbed him." It had been terrible and bloody, and she'd been sick after. She was starting to feel queasy now. She regretted the sandwich she'd eaten. "I think - I thought - that I'd killed him. But then -" But then things got fuzzy, and she rushed through what she could remember. "But then Mateo found me, and I think he healed the man, but then later he said that he should've just let the man die, but I didn't want that, I didn't want any of it, I just wanted - I just wanted to get away."
She bit her lip in thought, twisting her teacup this way and that to watch the tea inside shift and swirl. When Harper shuffled closer, she looked up in surprise, but she didn't protest as he wrapped an arm around her, instead leaning against his chest with a soft sigh. He was right. She should start at the beginning.
And, just as she'd anticipated, silent tears began to trickle down her cheeks as she began. She swiped them away angrily. "I think what upsets me the most is that I was stupid and naive," she said. "I went out to eat in the Silk Houses. I'd heard rumors about the area, but I just... didn't think anything would ever happen to me." She stared at her tea, stuck somewhere between sad, angry, and numb.
"I was working on a new map, and I lost track of time, so it was dark when I left the restaurant. I thought I'd take a shortcut home." She spoke softly, emotionlessly, almost as if in a trance. "I was walking home and somebody called out that I dropped something, so I stopped, and this man -" She swallowed, the man's face flashing before her eyes. She started to tremble. "He - he pushed me into an alley and he told me to give him my money, so I did, but then -" She paused, trying and failing to just breathe.
She forced herself to continue. "But then, h-he grabbed me, and I t-tried to fight back." She was crying now, her voice thickening with emotion. "But I d-didn't bring my staff with me, and I wasn't s-strong enough." She wasn't sure how to describe the way the man had punched her, dragged her by the hair, backhanded her. "I - I thought he was - I thought he was going to -" But she couldn't say it, not even to Harper. Still, it was clear enough to anyone with sense what the man had intended.
She shuddered on, her breath coming in short sobs. "I had my dagger and I - I managed to draw it and I - I stabbed him." It had been terrible and bloody, and she'd been sick after. She was starting to feel queasy now. She regretted the sandwich she'd eaten. "I think - I thought - that I'd killed him. But then -" But then things got fuzzy, and she rushed through what she could remember. "But then Mateo found me, and I think he healed the man, but then later he said that he should've just let the man die, but I didn't want that, I didn't want any of it, I just wanted - I just wanted to get away."
