"I stayed. Longer than I should have." He reaches down absently to worry a blade of grass between his fingers. Feels so real, it might as well be, and he doesn't give its legitimacy a second thought in the moment.

"Saw the people I cared about dying, and...there was nothing I could do. I knew if I stayed, I'd end up the same. Everything fell apart because the man leading us got so lost in his pride and greed he couldn't see the people around him anymore. And all his pretty words didn't mean so much then."

There's a tension around the edges of his face now, jaw clenching briefly. "He talked about being equal, but he threw our people to the wolves as a distraction to save his own skin. I couldn't look at him after that."