He listened while Alric spoke, absorbing the words, but perhaps not enterily as they were intended. And some part of his attention did stray enough for him to note that Alric... Spoke like a book. Like one of the ones Tiamaris would read over and over again. Something bout it... The mix of word choice and cadence...

Tiamaris had never thought to try reading anything out loud. He hadn't read aloud since he was five and had to prove to his uncle that he actually could read the words on the page; now he wondered of he had been missing out...

When Alric finished speaking, Tiamaris gave one of his almost unreadable shrugs. "You had no way to know that I'm a monster," he said simply.