Free. It was like a magic word. She concealed her excitement at the thought of free food, but months on the street ( was it almost a year now? she couldn't remember when she left ) had taught her that anything with the word 'free' on it was worth taking. If you didn't need it, you found a use for it somehow. And sometimes, even the things that weren't free could be made free.

Esperanza wasn't about to turn down free food at all. She shook her head briefly at his offer to take her back. It wasn't heavy and she didn't want to see her squalid bag against his prim suit.

"If it's free..." She let the suggestion that she wasn't picky about free things hang in the air. "Lead the way!

Please, lead the way. I might actually get lost in this place; it's like a castle."