Sairis's POV
Sairis looked down.
A girl. Small, perhaps four years old, round-cheeked and bright-eyed, wearing a yellow dress with a smear of something orange near the hem. She looked up at him from where she had bounced off his legs and landed on her feet and was now staring up at him with absolutely no fear whatsoever.
"Stop," Sairis said.
Everyone around him stopped.
He looked at the guard who had moved toward the child. "It is fine," he said. "She is a little girl. Leave her alone."
He lowered himself carefully, one hand on his knee for balance, until he was closer to her level. Marsden's hand appeared at his back without being asked, steadying him as he went down, and Sairis accepted it without comment.
The girl looked at his face with the kind of open, unfiltered attention that only very small children managed.
"Hello," Sairis said.
"Hello," she said back.
"Are you alright? I did not step on you?" He asked.
