And eat something. [It's mumbled, automatic, even as Koby closes his eyes and sends more tears down over his cheeks. They're less rounded than when he'd left home, but he knows he still must seem very young to Alicent. She seems it to him, her hair loose, her fingers bandaged where they brush his tears away. More than that, she seems vulnerable, strung tight and rubbed raw and still comforting him before anything else.

So he insists:] You need to eat something. You can't take care of everyone when you're hungry.

[A shuddery breath, sitting back in his chair and starting to pick at his fingernails -- a habit they share.] No, it's not. Not painful, I mean. I know how you mean it. I don't feel brave, I feel -- stupid and useless and naive. Like Alvida said.

[A beat.] The pirate captain who -- owned me. For two years. That was her name. She used to tell me I was an idiotic sniveling coward who didn't understand how the world worked, that I'd be chewed up and spit out without her. [He doesn't finish the thought, but it's there: maybe she was right.]