By nightfall, the Mulan boy looked exhausted. He had acquired a fresh set of bruises. When she called him in and bade him sit, however, he did not complain; And when she offered him a bowl of hearty stew, he took it and blew heat from the surface without question.
She sat to eat her own meal and watched him. He rarely looked at her. The way his eyes stayed focused on the ground or an invisible horizon suggested he spent much time either adrift in his own head or else escaping thought all-together. When he took his first bite of vegetables and meat, a look of displeased surprise briefly crossed his face. He paused then and then focused on the brown mixture he was holding; stuffed full of stalk and root vegetables and inundated with rabbit meat. Apparently the taste was strange to him.
His hands trembled, and a moment later he took in a sharp and soundless breath. Then he dug into the meal as if starving; wolfed it down like a beast. He ate everything. He gathered up every drop of gravy on the edge of his spoon to drink.
When he was done he moved to set the bowl down. She coughed and gestured to a pitcher of well water. It took him a moment to process what she was asking. Then he went to wash off his dishes, and hers soon after. She showed him how to dispose of the dirty water. Betime he was done, he looked dead on his feet; and his face was heated in a way that suggested he was suffering from some kinds of emotional deluge. She sent him to bed, and he was sound asleep in minutes.
The witch spent some time working on her own herb preparations and other chores. Then she stood and came up to the makeshift palette, watching her 'captive' sleep. He was a fragile-looking creature, like a bird plucked of all its feathers. His skin was a pale and yellowish color, and he had no hair upon his head. She leaned over slightly, pulling up one of her sleeves to bare the cocoa color of her arm. His bones were thin, his muscles lean, and his flesh was was as smooth as oiled buckskin; Her forearm was just as long as his, but twice its diameter, and her skin featured plenty of soft, natural hair.
She shook her head, amused by the differences. He looked very frail within his brown robes. Perhaps he needed to learn to hem, next.
Before heading to bed, she tucked him into the fur covers. He was, it appeared, only human.