All Loveliness Arises

The first green thing in Tom's life is his mother's dress, before she dies holding him. He can't remember this, but he hears of it, spoken about by the few caretakers who'd been there that day, speaking of the strangely luxurious green dress the woman had been wearing when she passed out on the street. That was all the description he got of her and, as a very young child, Tom sometimes imagined a rich family coming to find him, all of them in green. None ever came, and he outgrew the need for a mother or a family, but he never outgrew the want of one. He deserves one, after all.

And Harry is a small child, years younger and half Tom's size, dropped at Wool's Orphanage without an identity or past. And his eyes are the vivid green of rich fabrics that Tom dreams about, and his scarring carves a delicate map across his forehead, partially hidden behind his hair and begging for Tom to uncover it.

Family, Tom decides to call it, and collects Harry like a trinket instead of another child.