He looks her in the eye, an experience she’s unaccustomed to. “Can I really afford to do that? The things I saw, Ilapara. There was so much suffering, and there’ll be more to come. How can I just walk away?” He is the same person but also different. Ilapara can see it now that she’s paying attention. There is a new presence about him, an . . . authority. A fierceness.
