Beyond Words

A great general rides home after the war is over. The land is terrible; everywhere there are the testimonials to all the fighting and suffering and dying and destruction. He is well used to this and gives it no heed; he is glad the war is over again, at least for now.

As night falls, he makes camp in an abandoned building. He hears a sound, descends into the cellar and there he finds a small child, half starved and dirty, entirely abandoned. The general is a hard man, but he is also a good man; he takes the child which offers no resistance and brings it upstairs, begins to clean its face with water from his flask and discovers eventually that this is a little girl who survived the death of all her family somehow. She won't eat, but at some point in the night, the general awakes to find that the little girl has crept closer to him for warmth.

He takes the child in his arms, wraps his cloak about her and holds her tight; no words are spoken, but both are finding a healing in each other.