The paddling legs went still, and the enormous head swung toward her and dipped once, slow and solemn.
"Will you endure pain for his sake? Terrible wounds? Suffering without end?"
Another dip, deeper, and the growl that came with it rolled across the plain like an oath.
"And if something comes for him while he sleeps?"
The fissure-mouth peeled open along its seam, and what came out of it made the nearest soldiers reach for weapons they had already sheathed.
"Wonderful." Aria beamed, every trace of menace gone between one heartbeat and the next, and reached up to pat the armored plate of his cheek. "We're going to get along just fine."
Alice went last, and unlike the others, she had clearly prepared.
She marched up to the lolling colossus, planted both fists on her hips, and tipped her chin as high as it would go.
