The knight is looking at the statues, but her mind is elsewhere.

Not on her past, which she found curious at first; Then she realized, there's too many holes to look back and miss things.

Sure, she misses her parents and her fellow riders in the order, but she doesn't remember enough of them to understand why.

But as I said, this is not what she's thinking about right now. What she's thinking of is the situation she finds herself in, and, more importantly, who she's saddled with.

⟱⟱⟱

I find myself frustrated with the shepherd. Normally, I'd sidestep the problem, an angry civilian is something for someone else to deal with. I am stuck with him though, and unfortunately, I am beholden by the tenets of my Order to protect him.

It's a good thing I don't have to like him. It's not even the rage that's the problem; Rather, it's the despair. He attempts to hide it but I see through him.

Somewhere inside of him, when I look into his eyes, I can see that he has written us off already. That he considers us doomed. I'm not sure if he's actually aware of it, the rage is consuming his emotional width; Perhaps it's his way of staving it off.

That doesn't change that everytime we interact I get that same reminder, that he thinks we're fucked. It wears away at my own confidence.

I am wary, at some point he has to cool down, at some point the world will stop throwing weird things at us. He'll break, when he runs out of things to be angry at. I have no clue what he'd do then.

I do not look forward to stepping into this particular hornets' nest, but I must.

He can hold himself in a fight. And now that… things have tried to kill us, having someone at my back would be useful.

So I need to do it.

I need to make friends.

Stolen novel; please report.

Gods am I not looking forward to navigating those hoops again.

⟱⟱⟱

…

Yikes.

…

Right, so anyway, as the regalia for the statue in front of the knight is being created (A merfolk man with his fingers steepled in front of him, a serene look on his face). The shepherd is sitting on the staircase, speaking to the angel in his brain.

⟱⟱⟱

'Lightbearer, Sol will save us, right?' I know the embrace of the sun will always reach me. But in this dark place, this fucking forsaken hellscape, I need the reminder.

Of course. I am with you, a part of Sol lives inside of you, as long as this is true, you are not forsaken.

Its answer soothes my worries. One day, I will walk the fields of my home again, I will tend to my sheep. This place and its foul makers will be destroyed by the grace of the sun and I will be able to rest and recover again.

I turn to look at the knight, who is studying the statues made by that floating laser beam contraption. I am not sure what to make of her, but maybe the lightbearer does.

'Say Lightbearer, what do you think of that knight?'

She is from an order I have never heard of. If she speaks the truth, then she is a noble person, striving to aid others.

I remain quiet for a moment, before deciding to ask.

'Do you think she is trustworthy?'

The lightbearer does not answer immediately. I watch the knight as she goes forward and touches the circlet the contraption has created upon the statue in front of her. She holds still for a moment as she gains memories from the crown.

Memories, this place has a way with them, huh. Before I can tell the knight about my observation the Lightbearer answers.

I do think she is a good person. I do not know about her order, but she seems willing to help you. It might be good if you try to speak more to her.

Sometimes, angels are dumb. Which is a good reason to throw its idea straight out of the window and ignore it completely…

Ugh. I suppose I have no friends to speak with here, and I am kind of stuck with her…

'I'll try.'

Try does a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. It's another 5 minutes of me going back and forth over what I want to say before I eventually decide to go for it.

"Hey, uh, so what did yo-"

It is at this point I know Sol does still hold me close, as I am interrupted by a torrential flood of silver liquid bursting from the wall that was being excavated by the contraption.