[Someone calls back, but even the wind can only bring snippets. It tells him there is someone inside and they are injured or weak, but there isn't much of a description beyond that. No details. Could be a kid, could be a seraph, could be anyone.
Dezel grumbles to himself. He's starting to feel a little like Lafarga must have when he tugged Dezel out of trouble the fifth time.
He crosses another bridge with swift, light feet. He passes through decrepit passages from millennia ago, and some more recent ones. Edna's work. She keeps putting off going back to the altar, and Dezel thinks it might have something to do with her doubts about Sorey's return.
Dezel has a promise from Sorey, though, and he knows that seraphim promises are binding. Even if Sorey becomes a seraph and forgets it all, he might still be bound by that oath. That's what he's holding onto. Dezel's never had the unshakable faith that Mikleo had, but the comfort of a promise is better than nothing.
He ascends the stairs to the beautiful altar room that Edna constructed to protect Sorey, and he notices how it's overgrown with nature. Maybe this was her intent all along. Sunlight slants in from above, feeding the beautiful and very old tree that has made this place its home. Petals from its tiny orange flowers settle upon Sorey's hair and shoulders like specks of gold, like familiar feathers. The effect is lost on Dezel but he's aware of the petals as they skitter away from his wind.
It takes him a moment or two to register that Sorey isn't in his usual place upon the altar.]
S-- Sorey, [he gasps before he's even aware of it, and he zips to the former Shepherd's side. This could be a sick joke-- it could be, but he won't be sure until the boy says something. Until Dezel hears... something. Anything. Any sign that this isn't some kind of terrible joke. He's filled with a brief flash of righteous anger. If someone touched Sorey, even just to push him off the altar, Dezel will know. He will find them, and he'll make sure they never sleep peacefully again.]
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Dezel grumbles to himself. He's starting to feel a little like Lafarga must have when he tugged Dezel out of trouble the fifth time.
He crosses another bridge with swift, light feet. He passes through decrepit passages from millennia ago, and some more recent ones. Edna's work. She keeps putting off going back to the altar, and Dezel thinks it might have something to do with her doubts about Sorey's return.
Dezel has a promise from Sorey, though, and he knows that seraphim promises are binding. Even if Sorey becomes a seraph and forgets it all, he might still be bound by that oath. That's what he's holding onto. Dezel's never had the unshakable faith that Mikleo had, but the comfort of a promise is better than nothing.
He ascends the stairs to the beautiful altar room that Edna constructed to protect Sorey, and he notices how it's overgrown with nature. Maybe this was her intent all along. Sunlight slants in from above, feeding the beautiful and very old tree that has made this place its home. Petals from its tiny orange flowers settle upon Sorey's hair and shoulders like specks of gold, like familiar feathers. The effect is lost on Dezel but he's aware of the petals as they skitter away from his wind.
It takes him a moment or two to register that Sorey isn't in his usual place upon the altar.]
S-- Sorey, [he gasps before he's even aware of it, and he zips to the former Shepherd's side. This could be a sick joke-- it could be, but he won't be sure until the boy says something. Until Dezel hears... something. Anything. Any sign that this isn't some kind of terrible joke. He's filled with a brief flash of righteous anger. If someone touched Sorey, even just to push him off the altar, Dezel will know. He will find them, and he'll make sure they never sleep peacefully again.]