It was not her dream that chilled him, but that she did not weep as she told it. As a hero, he understood weeping women and knew how to make them stop crying--generally you killed something--but her calm terror confused and unmanned him, while the shape of her face crumbled the distant dignity he had been so pleased at maintaining. When he spoke again, his voice was young and stumbling.
The protagonist experiences a profound sense of disquiet as he observes a woman recounting her dream without displaying any emotion, particularly tears. This absence of grief confounds him, contrasting with his understanding of women who typically express sorrow openly. His typical role as a hero, which involves confronting and overcoming chaos, leaves him unsteady in the face of her calm fear.
Her composed demeanor under emotional distress shatters his previously held...
