Grouse Thicket put on your war face

Dagfinn's ears laid back, more at the tone of her voice than her actual words. She was too young to sound so spent and dejected. He wondered if there was anything that could make her happy.

"It is," he answered, wishing he could say the opposite. "But fate has a funny way of throwing us back together. I wouldn't give up hope just yet - I wouldn't ever give up hope."

Sometimes looking wasn't even necessary. Dagfinn believed that Laurel would be reunited with her sister one day, just as he believed he would one day be reunited with Lotte. He would have believed it all the more if he'd known that he'd met Laurel's sister before - that he'd lived with her and her mother, had eaten the same meat.