"...You didn't kill that kid, Teige," Parker said softly, causing Teige to halt, the tip of one ear twitching back towards her.

"Sure," he snapped. "Alls I know is, if I was her, it'd gut me, to hear alla that."

They both stopped then to watch as Liya began descending the steps on the far side of the bridge, into the grotto below, and eventually out of sight. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"At least we know she's here, now, yea?" Teige murmured. "And safe enough, it seems. We can check in on her, now. Mebbe he'd like that," he added, in an even smaller voice.

They passed a tall white statue of some quadrepedal creature with a horn on its nose, and into the shadow of a huge gate, which was open and apparently unattended.

"...God, but they sure don't look much alike, though, do they?" Teige remarked, half to himself. "Imagine if he'd never told me what she looked like. I would've never--"

A loud sniff caused him to look back at Parker, who was biting her lip.

"What's that??" he asked.

"Oh," Parker said, apparently trying to swallow down a sob. "I just thought, what if she never knows how hard he tried to find her? What a fucking sad thought."

Teige looked away guiltily. He'd stopped in the gate's shadow, just beyond the gate itself, which was recessed into the wall and was almost as thick as he was tall. He didn't move for a bit, just murmuring reluctantly, "Sure. Sure."