Alexander paused for a moment and glanced from the pale hand on his sleeve to her eyes--and suddenly his concern felt a little silly. While he might have no idea what she'd been through, it was clear she had been through something traumatic, survived it, and was no doubt tougher for it. She certainly didn't seem the sort of lady he needed to walk on eggshells around, but all the same, he didn't want to accidentally dredge up anything painful or uncomfortable for her.
He also didn't want to patronize her.
It was her playful 'little lake monster' remark that reassured him.
"Well, I wouldn't call her 'little'," he said with a wry smile. "But I think I was about, oh...eighteen, nineteen? It was winter and there wasn't much to do but the usual drills, scouting...dull work, really, except for a few bandit raids. Then one day while idling around a half-frozen pond we'd been around a dozen times, some naked lass comes staggering out of the bulrushes calling for help. Inky black hair, pale skin. Gorgeous beyond belief, 'cept she looked near froze to death with icicles and weeds in her hair and mud on her hands."
He shuddered. "Ya know, my first thought seeing something like that is to help them, of course! Who wouldn't, the poor thing. Who knows what she'd been through! I had my coat half off to cover her before I noticed something very wrong. Her eyes--pure white! Like the eyes of a corpse. But before I could say anything, my friend Finn was already offering his hand, and she took it--and didn't let go."
Alexander looked to Kella, gauging her reaction before deciding too continue. "She looked frail, but she had the strength of ten men as she hauled him into the water like he was naught but a child. She dragged him right under before we could even move. At least, she sure got close--one of the other men with us--Kieran--managed to grab him by the ankle, but he was getting pulled in, too, and he wasn't strong enough to save Finn, and Finn was drowning fast. He got out his knife and somehow got a hit on the monster...but that just mad her madder. That's when she turned."
He turned to Kella, using his hands in an effort to convey the creature's size as his words came quicker with excitement. "When I tell ya she was massive, I mean--God! This beast reared up out of the water, a horse big as a war stallion but thin and gangly as reeds, with bloody teeth sharp as razors. She bellowed in anger, and Finn by the grace of God somehow scrambled to shore missing a chunk of shoulder rather than neck. I was probably a giant idiot, but I pulled out my sword and jumped in the water with Kieran because that monster was going for him next. She struck out like a snake--but I did, too."
With a sharp motion, he jabbed the air. "Just like that! Stabbed her right through the neck. The sound she made--never heard anything like it on earth. She splashed back beneath the water, taking my sword with her, and he water churned red. Dunno if she lived or died; we didn't stick around to find out. Finn was bleeding out so there wasn't time for that. We got the hell out of there after that and nearly froze getting Finn to safety, and he nearly died. But somehow, we all got out of it alive."
He scratched his beard. "Ain't been near a body of water I can't see the bottom of ever since."