As one of the inn's resident masters in brushing off any concern with a careless I'm fine, it's a lie he can recognize when he sees it. It's also a lie he is hesitant to break; sometimes, that I'm fine can be the only barrier to keep from losing yourself.

But it is so hard to look at that line of half-eaten meals, and how thin Harrow already is -- has always been, in the short time he has known her.

"I see," he says, and keeps his tone light. "Well, sometimes it is not easy to keep an appetite. Some food is better than none, Madam Bar, is it not? Even I have days where plain rice is the most I can stomach."