"Why?" The question came out before he could stop it. "Why help us? You're human. I'm a goblin. You said it yourself—my kind aren't welcome."
Marcus and Elara exchanged a look.
"You want the truth?" Marcus said. "Most humans would turn you away. Some would try to kill you on sight. We're the exception, not the rule."
"So why are you different?"
Elara sat down with a tired sigh, gesturing for Satou to do the same. "Forty years ago, my husband and I lived in a village near the border. Orcs raided it. Killed half the population in a single night."
She looked at her hands, old memories playing across her face.
"We were hiding in a cellar when a goblin found us. Young thing, maybe your age. It could have killed us. Should have—goblins and orcs were allied in that region."
"But it didn't?" Satou asked.
"No. It looked at us, looked at the chaos above, and just... left. Didn't sound the alarm. Didn't tell the orcs where we were hiding. Just walked away and let us live."
