"Your outer beauty would have impressed me regardless," he answers. Honestly, though this is obviously for intelligence-gathering purposes, there's something...relaxing about this. Bantering back and forth. Teasing and twitting. It's a dose of normalcy amongst this terrifying insanity.

"The inner beauty would have shone a little less brightly. But these - " He lifts the bowl of groats again - "have clarified my vision that I can see through to it perfectly." And then, with a dip of his head - "Byerly. May I have your name, or shall I just call you my savior?"