[What do you do to shame a boy of fourteen? There might have been any number of things to fill that gap. A different time... a military setting... maybe a beating would have been enough. But she knows that pain. She knows that shame, unbidden and undeserved, for a crime they didn't commit.
He hasn't confirmed it, but she doesn't ask him to. It's the worst thing she can imagine, and it's what she thinks she sees in his eyes. "It was a long time before anyone could look at me like I was an officer."
If she asks, he could deny it. But part of her already knows what his answer would be...and she can't bear to make him say when there's no need.]
I'm sorry.
[so soft. It's not pity. To pity him is to pity herself, and she doesn't do that either. But there is pain. And a deeper understanding than either of them should have had.]
[Action]
He hasn't confirmed it, but she doesn't ask him to. It's the worst thing she can imagine, and it's what she thinks she sees in his eyes. "It was a long time before anyone could look at me like I was an officer."
If she asks, he could deny it. But part of her already knows what his answer would be...and she can't bear to make him say when there's no need.]
I'm sorry.
[so soft. It's not pity. To pity him is to pity herself, and she doesn't do that either. But there is pain. And a deeper understanding than either of them should have had.]