He looked down at her with a small frown. "The same place they got their meat and likely some of their hearthstones. They killed for it. Or took them right off."
Her eyes widened and she looked like she might be sick. Or on the verge of tears. It was difficult to tell. She fell silent, her own ears drooping responsively.
He hesitated, resting his hand on her back gently. "I was worried they would have stuff like that there.."
She only moved closer to him, but didn't touch him, knowing that she was getting close to hugging territory. "It's... it's okay. I just... I won't look. Let's go back to camp."
She looked up at him, her eyes reminiscent of marigolds as she considered him. "Zer... how did you know about that?" she asked him, looking a little stricken.
He looked back with a frown. "My dad used to warn me if I was bad he'd sell my ears to the black market."
This didn't seem to soothe her, and she shook her head. "But... you knew how they got there. You knew that the... the..." She shook her head again, unable to get the words out. "You knew the... meat came from elves. How did you know that?"
He frowned, looking a little disappointed at her. "It's not hard to assume. During my reign black markets were strictly forbidden. I didn't support them in any definition of the sense."
She might've sniffled a little under her hood, shaking her head as if to disrupt the memories in her head. "They must've been so scared, Zer. They must've been so frightened."
He frowned slightly, rubbing her back. "Maybe.. Maybe we'll find Oblivion soon. Then we can try to figure out where they're getting their supply."
She glanced up at him under the hood of her cloak, a small smile crossing her lips as she reached up and gently touched his ear. "See? You're better than your parents were. I can't imagine either of them doing that."
He looked surprised, glancing at her hand. "It might be a bit of a detour.. I'm not sure if my sword is even close to Saimore."
She looked up at him, her brow furrowing in confusion. "But... aren't you going to go live in the mountains when this is all over?"
This seemed to cheer her up a little and her ears might have perked up, swiveling to listen to the bustling sounds of the city.
