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[goingtodorking]

Karen has one thing that she wants to talk about.

Since the other day, she's done a lot of reading. She's read books about Germany and the War and the Nazis and now she's curious. At school, once, somebody's Nan came and told them about the war because shde'd been a little child during the war. And Dieter said he was alive. And he was German

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[majorhellstrom]

(That last fact may or may not be on purpose, at least for her.)

Hellstrom is well aware that, by this point, he's had a few close calls. That's what comes of only telling the truth, he supposes. To be honest, for the first time in his life he doesn't know how he feels - and for the first time in a long while, he actually does feel something.

He's on his way up to the Compound, halfway down the path between the building itself and the beach. For once, his guard is down, and to say that he's paying close attention to his surroundings would be a lie. His uniform lies just inside his hut. His safety on the island is something that he knows to be tenuous; while it is called a blank slate, he knows, or at least he has gathered, the sort of stigma associated with the swastika that for some time he so proudly wore on his sleeve.

Should anyone accidentally go in, should anyone decide to take a look around, his identity would be free game.

It's something that he tries not to think about more than he has to.

[goingtodorking]

When Karen sees him, she stands and watches him for a moment, shading her eyes. The way eight year olds love people is inexplicable. She walks over to him, still looking, quietly solemn.

"What's a Nazi?" she asks him, squinting slightly in the sun.

[majorhellstrom]

The question itself is not unexpected, but it still takes him a moment to answer it.

(There are things that he could stand to live without.

He does not want to lose her.

It isn't something that he'll admit.)

"A member of the Nazi political party," he says, stopping as he speaks, hands held awkwardly at his sides.

[goingtodorking]

She frowns, looking up at him still, her hand still shading her eyes.

"Were all Germans Nazis?"
She feels like it's important to be clear about this.