“What..?” At first, Sam had thought it’d been a joke that just didn’t land. He’d laughed, when you’d first told him, because there was no way in hell you were from Gotoro. But when you didn’t laugh along.. when you kept your eyes fixed on the ground, your lips pursed.

“You’re joking, right? That’s not.. you can’t be…” he didn’t even know what he was feeling.. he didn’t know how to respond. You were a Gotoro. You— your people— were at war with Ferngill. You had put his dad in a camp— you had come here illegally. He loved you, he thought he had loved you. But now he was looking at you and he didn’t know how he felt.

“Get out.” Sam finally croaked, needles burning at the back of his throat.