She considers offering him a hand up, but sits carefully beside him instead. She can sit still for a long time. Part of that is the patience learned from being accustomed to being prey, and part of it was learned from her mother and their gardens and their walks in the woods. So she sits and watches him, considering what to do. Something has changed, she thinks. She’s not sure what, but it is one thing to hide from the same people, and quite another to have been caught and then just walk home as though everything is normal.
"I’m fine," she says finally. "You aren’t, though." It’s not a question. Keeping still till the hunters have gone was a good idea on his part, but it means she isn’t at all sure how badly he’s been hurt. "You should come see the garden," she adds firmly.
The bullies have always been something Ben has needed to deal with, always been something he's dealt with. That doesn't mean he would ever want anyone else to deal with it, especially not someone like Ellie. He looks over at her, pulling himself into a sitting position with a groan. No cracked or broken ribs, he knows what those feel like, just bruises. Those would heal just fine. "I'd like that." Somewhere quiet away from his mother that would fuss over him and his father that was just as likely to add to the bruises as he was to throw a bag of frozen peas at him. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like to not have to worry about any of that. To know that if he went home his parents would both be worried and he wouldn't have to worry about what his dad might do to his mom. That didn't happen often, but it did sometimes. But these are all things he doesn't ever want to tell Ellie.
