He smiles slightly in acknowledgment of her sympathy, then continues with the storytelling.

As it turns out, she hasn't seen the worst of it yet.

The boss's son grows up amid a society that is not just at war, but gleefully so. Their ceremonies and entertainment and even their magic all seem to revolve around torturing and sometimes eating their war prisoners. The leader bullies his child into participating, but even from a young age he is reluctant, and his reluctance only grows as he gets older. Once he sneaks off to a deserted part of the mountain to cry tiny stone tears. His father finds him at it, flies into a rage, and attacks him.