His words aren’t comforting, but they aren’t insulting either. Valdis knows her trauma is her own and she gets to deal with it as she sees fit.

As his shirt drops from his back, she slowly sits up, holding the sheets to her chest as if he hasn’t just seen and felt every inch of her. She traces each scar with her eyes, considering each one and the pain inflicted upon a human.

It now feels unforgivable to do such a thing to a living creature, but there was a time when she wouldn’t have cared.

Valdis knows instinctively that this is sensitive for him. That fact he’s showing her at all feels like an immense exchange of trust.

“May I?”