"I haven't done anything worth thanking me for," Sorey says, hanging his head as he braces his hands on the rock. "I didn't...I didn't even think to ask you until now." He could make excuses about what he's been taught, about how little information there is on malakhim but they would be just that: excuses. When he's prided himself all his life on thinking for himself, how can he just say 'nobody told me' now?

But sitting here and wallowing in his own mistakes will help nobody. The world is still full of daemons, and the mysteries surrounding Vahvuus are just as numerous as they were before.

Sorey looks up at Vahvuus. "I meant it when I said I wanted to be partners with you, but not when you couldn't choose it for yourself. I don't know what the Abbey did to you but...I want to help. I don't want to use you like a thing."