[Kyrie makes a small noise of agreement about Nero not recognising his own merits. A slight breeze makes her shiver a little and burrow deeper into the coat as they continue walking.]

It's silly, no matter how often I tell him he has nothing to prove, he's always trying to. I'm afraid that's something he's done since the orphanage, and he just doesn't believe it when someone gives him a compliment.

[There have been so many times she's wished that Nero could see himself the way she does, someone so incredibly kind in spite of the cruelty he'd faced, someone so brave and fearless and determined. That's all Nero, and she's so proud of him. Her parents had seen his potential in their own way, Credo too, but she had always been his loudest cheerleader and most vocal champion. To hear his father say that he's proud of him... it makes grin just to hear it.]

It will mean the world to him to know you feel that way.

[Honestly, she still can't quite believe that she's walking with Nero's father. They'd mused about who his parents might have been as children; it was something he had grown out of and claimed not to be bothered by it anymore, but she knew better than to believe it didn't. As a little girl, she'd kept her own whimsical thoughts to herself about who his family was, perhaps he'd been a prince or-

or the grandson of her faith's god.

That thought suddenly hits her like a ton of bricks.]