The transformation is remarkable.
Perhaps it should have been obvious that this would happen. Tacitus didn’t rise through the ranks of the heretics to a position of leadership by stammering and flinching and deferring to others, after all. It's just that after seeing him curl up over his knees in front of that wretched Inquisition woman, Soren has had a hard time seeing his old friend as anything but fragile, damaged and exhausted.
But all it takes is a week or two of adequate food and sleep, and the transformation is profound.
His candid smile is exactly as Soren remembers it. It has to be forced, but you'd never guess. The sparkle in those black, black eyes takes the inhumanity out of them.
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