"You are alone, child. Your family gone. No guards to save you. What does this tell you?" I ask.

  "That I the end, I can only rely on myself. I know, I know. We've done this for 6 months, Nezekiri!" She pouted at me. I snorted audibly.

  "Yes but no. This time, what I'm getting at is your lack of power. Power comes in many forms, each with their own... taste, shall we say. You lack almost every kind." I say.

  "I have been assisting you in numerous ways with both conversation and physical and mental conditioning. However, there are times when one must retreat to fight another day."

  "So be a coward." She states. Her religious upbringing was a difficult hurdle to overcome. She had taught me about it, expounding on what she knew, and it was... something.

  It was very... utilitarian, xenophobic, narrow-minded, and a few other descriptors. I did not like it. But she was her own person. She can judge things on her won, no matter how young.

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  "No. You recall the times when you fled battle with the animals of this forest? There, the stakes were low. You had the opportunity to flee, to think and come up with a better plan, then return to fight again. There are times for that, and to hold until the last on the fields of war. That is what I'm getting at. You must learn to apply things to all situations, to assess, to prepare, strike and perhaps run to fight again. You can do no more good if your dead, and martyrdom is not the aim." I say.

  She looks thoughtful, so I continue.

  "Now. Trust. How do you trust? How should you? Most wish to take advantage of you. Some wish to hurt you. A very rare few will wish to assist you. How do you judge intentions?" I ask.

  We go into that vein wor a while. I ask more questions, leading her to answers. Some answers weren't what I would have picked, but in the end, I was not going to pick for her. Eventually she asked something that had been eating at her.

  "Why... why did you save me? What do you want from me? You didn't explain well, and..." She slowly stopped speaking. Was she nervous of my answer? Just confused? I wasn't the best at body language. But, the answer was simple.

  "Freedom. I have a bit of it, and so I choose to do something. Helping you was free, and it costs nothing but time. Time I have in abundance. Besides, you interest me." I say, then give another response. "One could also imply that it was the moral thing to do I suppose. To help when one can with no expectations of remuneration. There is a point in that, but not everything."

  She continues to walk, and I give her a chance to think on my words. Would she internalize them? Simply learn drop them? I did not know. But it was relatively fun, and like I said. I've nothing better to do.