She flinches at the contact, and for a single, shameful, heartbreaking moment, Rosie assumes it's just another trick. Maybe they'd tired of simply beating her, or grown inspired by their drive to please their master and moved on to more exciting tortures. Something clever and sadistic, like sending in a goblin wearing the face of a friend, making her think she's saved just so they can watch what it does to her when she realizes the truth.

But he looks at her, and she at him, and if there's trickery there, she can't find it. "Nick?" she croaks, her voice rough and cracking even on the single syllable of his name. "It's really you?"