"Look!" Penelope said, dancing in front of him, holding a chain of flowers. A purple variety, one of the few that dared to grow on the harsh acidic soils of the valley. "Vale taught me how – isn't it pretty?"
Vol looked at her blankly. She still had not that childlike innocence, it seemed, that she'd had when she was first let loose back into the world. It seemed more like she was simply doing a better job at hiding it. "They're flowers," he said, without a trace of excitement.
Penelope pulled a face. "I know what they are, I already told you what they are. I'm asking, aren't they pretty?"
She put the flowers across her hair to demonstrate how one might wear them. It was enough to make any raiders nearby fall over. That was one of the few things that their men were missing – women – and a girl like Penelope, so full of life and beauty, was the exact sort of thing that hit them where they were weakest.
