So not quite as young as Clarisse had been imagining, but it doesn't change much. It doesn't change the fact that Gwen was out of her depth and untrained and felt stupid and scared a lot of the time. Clarisse had felt that way when she'd been taken to New York as a ten year old, and she'd felt that way again when she'd arrived in Thedas nine years later.

Maybe it's universal. Maybe it never totally goes away.

Anyway. "Why did he kill them?" Sure, "only" two might be considered restrained, but not when they're your friend's guys.

She hadn't thought she'd really be paying attention to this story at all, expected it to be more of a distraction than anything, but she's invested now.