The Hero picked up another stone, tossing it into the air and catching it as he continued. "If, when you ask 'why?', you mean why I keep coming back, then it's because I wanted to understand why someone like you, who clearly sees so much, chooses to sit here and do nothing.
Why do you still choose the effort of stillness over the ease of action?"
She looked at the ripples spreading across the lake's surface, her face remaining blank except for the faintest trace of confusion in her eyes.
"Effort of stillness?" she repeated softly, her voice barely more than a whisper. "...I'm making effort?"
"To sit here for months doing nothing takes just as much effort as it does for me to walk through this forest day after day to reach this lake," the Hero answered.
"Yes, you are making an effort. You've been sitting and staring, but you're still breathing, still alive… all of which shows the effort you put into staying alive despite whatever heavy burden makes you choose to do nothing."
