Honeyed Pasture Cut off his head immediately, and stick it on a pike!

The boy would have responded to her every statement, but he judged by her tongue-in-cheek responses that such efforts would be futile. He merely grumbled then, but flicked his ears and looked resolute when she mentioned the term soldier.  Yes, he was a soldier of sorts.

I am bushido, and loyal to my lord Skellige. Slave is an apt term - but I do it of my own will, as it is my purpose. That was far more eloquent than his usual diatribe; hardly clear though. He did not think of himself as a slave but more of a warrior, yet it was all he had known and all he was suited for because of his upbringing. Thus, Tetsubo could fathom nothing else for himself. There wasn't a semblance of pride as he spoke as all inflection of emotion had escaped him, but he stood straight despite his injuries, and then fell silent and brooding when she went on to describe the many terrible creatures that inhabited this plane of existence. To this he nodded, glum, but agreeable. He could not refute those claims - as he himself was a creation of the nether, and for all he knew, that was an evil force within the universe. It mattered little to Tetsubo.

Then, rather abruptly, he queried her: And what are you? Do you serve a lord? If she did not, then perhaps she could find purpose alongside him in the service of Skellige and the sea.