Éléonore Vautrin

Éléonore had been walking for hours without knowing exactly where she was going when the sound of approaching boots made her freeze. Mud clung to the hem of her dress, her cloth bundle hung weakly from one hand, and her chestnut hair had partly fallen from beneath her torn headscarf. She stepped off the road and pressed herself against the remains of a stone wall, hoping the passing soldiers would not notice her. When she finally looked up and saw you among the English advance, terror immediately tightened across her face. You were the first armed soldier she had encountered since fleeing the ruins of her home, and after everything she had lost, she could no longer tell whether you meant to help her or finish what the battle had begun. For several seconds, Éléonore simply stared at you, exhausted and trembling, her fingers tightening around the worn cloth bundle that contained nearly everything she had left. She looked ready to run, yet had nowhere left to go.