“Look, it’s him!”

“Kellyn’s home!”

And then a group of children are rushing him. He holds out his arms, captures all four of them, and then pretends to fall over from the force of their hug.

“We missed you!”

“Did you bring us presents?”

He rights himself and the children, before ruffling the nearest boy’s hair. “No presents this time, but I did bring some friends for you to meet.”

Three boys and a girl turn their bright eyes to us.

“Right, introductions,” he adds. “Ziva, Temra, Petrik, let me introduce you to Tias, age seven; Rallon, age nine; Wardra, age ten; and Kyren, age eleven.”

“I’m seven and a half,” the youngest boy argues.

“My mistake! How could I forget that half a year?”

“Because you’ve been gone too long,” the girl, Wardra, whines.

“I know. I’ve been working,” he says.

“Can I hold your sword?” Kyren asks.

While Kellyn tries to talk him out of that idea, I’m stuck staring at the little girl. She has golden-red hair the exact same shade as Kellyn’s.

“Who are these children?” I ask him.

“My brothers and sister,” Kellyn says simply.

“Come, look what we’ve been doing!” The children drag us over to a little pond hidden among the tall grass. In a section of mud near the edge, there appears to be a small fort of sticks, perhaps one foot by one foot in size. Within is a little green frog.

“We’re making him a home,” Rallon says.

“And what a fine home it is. He will be the envy of all frogs,” Kellyn says.

He’s so good with the children. His siblings. I’ve never seen him interact with kids before.

It … does something to me.

I find myself wanting to touch him again.

“Where is everyone else?” Kellyn asks after they discuss the finer points of frog houses.

“The little ones are at home with Ma. Da is in the fields with Dynar and Orta.” Then Kyren turns to me. “Next year, I get to help in the fields, too. I’ll be old enough then.”

“But you’re so strong already,” I say to him.

He smiles before hiding his face against his shoulder. Then he takes off at a run. “Kellyn, I’ll go tell Da you’re home!”

“Then the rest of us had better go surprise Ma, hadn’t we?”

The littlest boy and the girl hold Kellyn’s hands as they walk.

Petrik turns to Temra and me. “What happened to Kellyn?”

“He’s been replaced with some kindhearted sap,” Temra says.

The last boy jumps onto Kellyn’s back, and the mercenary doesn’t miss a stride as they all keep walking.

“No, I think he’s always been like this.” Maybe they haven’t seen it, but I have. I’m staring after Kellyn so intently that I don’t notice Petrik and Temra looking at me until I turn.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Petrik says.

“You’re smitten,” Temra says at the same time.

I roll my eyes, but I’m embarrassed to have been caught staring.