"The girl I talked to said he wasn't a pet. That it looked like someone had put it in a ring to fight."

Gannicus had felt an unexpected surge of anger when Daine told him that. He knew the feeling intimately, to live solely for the entertainment of people that considered themselves his betters.

"Whatever manner of man abandoned him, she did not expect they would reappear to make claim."

He looked at Hild, a bit uncertain but hopeful. "Would you have objection if-- if I were to make such a claim?"