Hanitz watched Gabriel in silence long after his words faded.
The room felt smaller around them, the weight of everything the former Paladin had confessed pressing into the walls.
Hanitz exhaled slowly.
You may be stronger… faster, but you're still the same scared boy I dragged out of that snow hovel, he thought.
You survived the cold, survived the Order, survived the Paladins.
But you're still that half-frozen child looking at me for something to hold onto.
His gaze hardened, not out of anger, but because the memory hurt more than he'd ever admit.
He remembered that day clearly. The wind screaming across the ridge, the collapsed hovel half-buried in snow, the tiny shape curled inside it, waiting to die. Gabriel hadn't spoken then.
He'd just stared.
The same stare he had now.
Hanitz lifted his chin slightly.
"Get up," he said, voice low. "You're not a boy anymore."
Gabriel didn't move at first.
Hanitz straightened, eyes narrowing.
