Ethan sighed, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. “Once, I might have turned you away. I was a man who cared for little but my own survival. But age… age does things to a person. Leaves them with ghosts but also with wisdom. And sometimes, we get a chance to be better than we were.”

She listened, finding comfort in the simplicity of his words. Here was a man who had lived through his own storms, who had seen the worst of humanity and perhaps had been a part of it. Yet, here he was, offering her shelter when she had nowhere else to turn.