Lily was crying, not sobbing or weeping, but tears were rolling down her cheeks. One landed on Shin's face.
He had listened to her story about life from a time long ago and found it difficult to reconcile against his reality. He couldn't even imagine a school that wasn't focused on military training, and yet she had fun-filled, and dangerous, days just being a kid with her brother.
"It sounds like you guys loved each other a lot," Shin said.
She patted his shoulder, "we still do, we still do".
The use of the present tense sounded strange to Shin, but then he guessed that her love was still real even if her brother was long dead.
"Thank you for sharing, my queen," Samha said. He looked at the queen with a sad smile that bordered on reverence.
"Yes, we await your brother's return," Laumva said. Her expression was pure reverence, as if the Queen's brother, whom they just called Ethan, was their God.
