The Baroness looked out the window, standing still as a statue. At least, until he approached. She looked down as he lifted the spider up for her to see. “How interesting. You catch that all on your own?”

He nodded with a smile.

She returned it with a smile of her own and pressed a hand on the top his head. “Now put that down, my flower. See? It’s scared.”

He didn’t know how to determine it was scared, but he put it down nonetheless. The both of them watched it skitter away. He climbed up on the windowsill to watch it as it escaped, his mother’s hand on his back to balance him. Once again, his eyes trailed away from the spider to the people down below. “Who are they, Ma’mer?”

“People who need help.”

It would be a long time before he understood what that meant.