NARRATOR

Rousse managed to cling to the edge of a rock and finally make it to shore.

He was carrying the little sorceress pressed against his muscular body.

She looked like a koala clinging to his chest, trembling from the cold.

"Hang on, I’ll start a fire to warm you up,"

he said, shaking his head to wring the water from his gray hair.

His leather clothes felt heavy, but he wasn’t cold, nor did he feel the pain from all the bruises and scrapes.

When he bent down to place her on a tree trunk, Meridiana lifted her head to thank him.

That’s when Rousse noticed it.

Her bandage had fallen off.

Her eyes were covered with a white veil of blindness, her very light eyelashes glistening with moisture.

Around them, deep scars stretched like a stain on a beautiful painting.

Meridiana also felt the wind brush against her face.

She was showing this man her flaws, her shame.

"Don’t look at me!" she shouted, burying her face in his neck, trembling even more.

No, no, no… he would surely be disgusted.