Her questions were so simple, and should have been just as easy to answer. How had this little girl managed to make him question so many of the little things he probably should have done, but never had?

Had he ever walked barefoot in the grass? As a child, maybe. Before his father took him away from one island and shoved him onto another.

“…Yes, you should add– wait,” Malachi glanced down at her, one brow raised in suspicion. “I did not agree to climb any trees. How could we ever find one tall enough?”

His tone might have been serious, wary even – but it was clearly a joke.

Malachi gave her hand a gentle squeeze. If she wanted him to climb a tree, then he would climb a tree. He would just hope that he did not fall and hurt himself, because how would he explain that one to Father Richards and Mrs. Higgins?

He watched her for a moment longer, the way she shook from the cool water, and pulled her to walk at his side instead, with an arm around her shoulders. He had not dried any more than she had yet, but he still maintained more heat than a much smaller girl.

“I would like to…”

Hm. What were things that, as a child, he had never gotten to do? The list was all too long. He’d just wanted to be a normal kid, like Levi, most of all.

(Oh, how he’d wished that boy would have just been his friend. Now it felt ridiculous, but back then… anything would have sufficed.)

“…Play a game?” he offered, though he sounded unsure, as if he didn’t know if his choice was among the right answers. “What kinds of things do you do when you’re on your own?”