"Were you?" A different girl, a different tone, a different context, he might've taken it as some sort of joke or a lie to cover something more painful in its honesty. But he didn't see it as fitting with what else he knew of her to make up a story like that, even if it was a surprising truth.

"Was this before or after your schooling?" He'd properly ended the second little braid by then, and started to gather up all of her hair, braids included, so as to put them all together.