Shady

Talia shrugged. "But they messed up on me. They weren't supposed to grab anyone under twelve." As if that made it better. "And Governor Makata didn't touch me at first. ...

Talia looked at her in horror. "He was only eight ? That's just a baby!"

“Ah.” Talia cringed and dipped her head. “Yes… he seemed to have a worse time of it. I’m very sorry to hear it.”

“…sorry.” Talia glanced up at her. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“He gave me a lot of pretty things,” Talia said quietly, walking back over to keep bunching up the herbs. “And let me listen to music with him… though… I ...

“It’s okay.” She shrugged and glanced at her at last, smiling a little. “I was good at it, so my life was fairly easy.” She turned and hung up another ...

Talia shrugged uncomfortably, still not looking up. “It wasn’t all bad… cold, but a relatively easy month or so… no one was allowed to touch us on the way up ...

Talia hesitated, then shook her head, blushing a little. “… well… maybe they did. I don’t know. We had thicker clothes on until maybe the last half hour or hour ...

“It does a good job.” Talia nodded. “It was incredible how much better I felt yesterday putting on thick clothes and eating the oatmeal.”

Talia nodded in agreement. “The stew up here is super heavy though. Warms you right up.”

“It’s good.” Talia nodded as well. “… very different. But good.”

“Yes ma’am.” Talia nodded. “The green bread, right?”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Well… that’s good at least. It’s very nice.”

“Oh, it’s not like a pie… more like… like a loaf of bread but with stuff inside… it’s very nice. Very filling.”

“Um… we eat a lot of breads and barley. Often with spices or meats baked inside.”