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

For a moment she seemed to understand. She scrutinized him with an expression of calm, of impassive emptiness, and that gave him... Not hope, exactly, but some kind of fleeting gladness, because she understood. Except she didn't, not really. And it became clear as soon as the girl spoke again - so he, swift to defend his lord's honor which he felt was being tarnished, if only slightly, and eager for whatever reason to make sense of himself to this stranger, he corrected her. 

I owe a debt. I was injured, and my lord found me. It was only fitting that I serve him. I am loyal to the death, as is my purpose. Again with that phrase. He said it like a mantra, and there was a bit of conviction to it this time, but that too was likely a practiced feat from when he was a child and made to recite many things. Time would tell if Skellige was a worthy lord; but even if he was not, Tetsubo was bound by his word and by the laws he inherited.

She next spoke of her own state, of being alone, of having none to serve, and Tetsubo could not fathom living in such a manner. It had been hell to traverse the world from end to end - following his departure from the encampment where he once roamed - and to be alone in that time. He had someone now. They would guide him, rule him, as he did not have the capacity for it himself. His hell had ended. He wondered if her's would end soon too, or if she would choose to suffer further.

And the order she gave him - for that was what he heard, the power in her voice, the tone that many had used with him that Tetsubo could not refuse obeisance to - made him respond almost immediately. Tetsubo, he announced, and then he went silent again. She asked and he responded, and did not wonder what her own name may be. It mattered little to him.