Noctisardor Bypass trellis

why would you help me?

cormorant realized, a little too late, that he ought to have asked himself the same question. was it really just about hearing her story? instinct told him it wasn't, but when he tried to call forth another reason, he came up blank. he was selfish, he knew that better than anyone else. if this woman died right now, before he could say another word, he wouldn't mourn. not even for a moment.

but he wanted to help.

i can't answer that because i don't know. i'm not going to promise anything. but i want to help right now. take it or leave it, he'd meant the last part to sound harsh, but it came out more solemn; almost matter-of-fact. if she wasn't yet desperate enough to take the scrapings from the bottom of the do-gooder barrel, then they were both wasting their time here. cormorant didn't have any noble intentions to butter her up with; he'd always been sadly lacking in those.