---

Neeza finished dinner and looked around at the tables. Most of the children were able to distract themselves from their hunger through fun and horseplay, whereas others were visibly still unsatisfied. Some of them still mourned and worried for the two who had gone down into the Abyss, but for Neeza, it was a thing to celebrate. Perhaps the Abyss will accept them and transform them, elevate them above mortality. Looking around again, Neeza wondered if the same blessed fate awaited all these children. Of course, the divinity of the Abyss was not a sure thing for Neeza, it wasn't that she was trying to spread an existing religion to these orphans here in Orth, she was actually trying to found her own religion. Inspired by the faiths of her homeland, when she heard about the Abyss for the first time, she was struck with an epiphany, and she had to see the deepest darkness for herself. It had been a long and arduous journey getting to Orth, but her mind and body were disciplined for the simple rigors of travel. Upon arrival, she heard about an orphanage that trained delvers; fitting that she had been an orphan once; apt that those that the world abandoned were being trained to enter the emptiness. Donating the remainder of her travel funds to the orphanage, she asked to be enrolled, and volunteered to serve in whatever capacity was required. Tomorrow, they would re-enter the Abyss and seek the two lost children, but for Neeza, it was just another opportunity to experience the Abyss for herself in her path to find the Truth.

---

Come nightfall, Neeza found herself laying sleepless in her meager bed. She had only recently earned her red whistle, so it was truly a privilege to be allowed on these recent rescue dives. But she yearned to go deeper, she was so close to hearing the Voice of the Void, to establish her Doctrine of the Depths, but she was held back by rules that had been put in place for her 'well-being' and the well-being of the other young delvers. But perhaps this safe, sterile approach blinded them to the truth of the abyss. After all, If the Abyss required them to discard their weak, mortal, earthly selves, then clinging to life was counter-intuitive. Still, it wasn't like she could convince Leader to let her go deeper, others have tried and he had remained adamant. And she didn't feel that it was right to just go off on her own in secret during the next delve. It wouldn't feel sincere, and was perhaps a little arrogant to believe that the Abyss could accept her the way she was. No, perhaps this ritual was part of the revelation, perhaps the first lesson was one of humility and patience.

Still, unable to sleep, Neeza got up and headed to Leader's office, noticing that he was not yet asleep either. She also noticed Rags heading off somewhere, but it wasn't her business to know what the other orphans got up to in the dark of the night. Approaching the worrying Chris, Neeza declared, "Leader, I would like to suggest that the orphans, myself included, be flogged regularly." In response to the surprise and questioning alarm that he would undoubtedly express, Neeza explained, "No, they've done nothing wrong. Pain is not merely a means of punishment, but you recognize it's ability to teach. It can be used to teach us, to remind us of our weakness, as a motivator to improve. Pain can also be cathartic, in moments of extreme pain, the inner eye is opened." She was of course, referring to moments when one experiences so much pain that they attain a form of mental clarity, sometimes known as 'ones life flashing before ones eyes'. She looked inquisitively at Leader, unblinkingly, wondering if he would accept her suggestion and implement the first step of her desired regime of physical discipline.

Oof! Sieg reeled back by the ramming attack of the bird, visibly having being knocked the air out of him. It'd leave him a bruising for sure? Had he broken any ribs with that stunt? It was not time to dwell on it, as the burning pain overtook him. He gritted his teeth, anger building in his stomach in a murky, vile sensation. He had no time to waste fighting stupid birds and tending to morons that dropped from the sky.

Luckily his luck hadn't ended as a smelly, ragged girl got a drop in the bird and managed to get a critical hit on the creature's neck. I'm not going to question what sort of insanity is this all about. He added as he brought his forearms to his face to shield himself from the talons of the bird.

And then another girl landed. Were those wings? He thought to himself, disbelieving what he had just seen. It had the effect to thin his patience even more. And now it's raining people. You could've, you know, jumped at it sooner rather than find ourselves in this sloppy mess. But enough of this chastising, there's a girl to save. Sieg added, as he shifted his shoulders, his backpack now on his hand, gripped firmly.

He started to spin it deftly and ominously, as an impromptu mace, as he eyed the creature. Messy and painful way that is. So much for the quick way. He sized his opponent, crippled with wounds and of brittle bones.

"Deus vult." He repeated to himself, a mantra of the knights of old as he swung the backpack turned mace on the bird's brittle body.

Kai hadn't felt the real force of his fall after the rope has broken, the adrenaline had stolen the pain in places it had come up and with his pack removed, tossed to the side in favor of just his knife and his mask, he ran his fingers over the smooth wooden surface and focused on each and every breath being taken in. Any other time it had brought the boy back from his panic and fear but now it only made it worse.

Putting a foot under him, Kai pushed to rise and help against whatever it was that was being attacked. There were wings, a bird obviously, and that wasthe boys target. All at once his leg gave out and again returned the boy to his stomach with a jaw clenching feeling of pain shooting up his leg.
It was not broken, that much he knew, but it was likely twisted in the fall. It ached noticably as the moment dragged on forever. Wincing in pain, it was all he could do to wrap a hand around where it hurt and try to focus on his surroundings.
The abyss was full of danger and an injury could cost him everything.

No. No, no no NO. Not like this! I won't be dead weight. I won't

The sound of wings caught his attention and the adrenaline was quick to come, the boys mind blocking out the pain as best he could while a wild sense of survival overloaded him in that moment of weakness. It was fight or die and too much rode on this path down to lay here and die.
With his dominant leg he sprung, eyes bleary from the tumble. Whatever it was that had startled him it had wings, big ones. It must be that bird!

Carving knife leading, Kai tried to stab whatever it was right in those wings.

---

---

Rags was not dissuaded by the bird rolling around in a vain attempt to shake her off, and her powerful limbs locked her body into place as she removed the arrow and tried to stab another, more carefully guided mortal wound. With the bird's movements, it was all she could do to stay on and keep her grip, and she eventually had to stop trying to stab and use the hand with the arrow to grab at the feathers too. This commotion meant she did not see Kryss or her wings.

When the two boys both landed hits on the bird's body, it was distracted from Rang's prescence enough that she could use the window of opportunity to stab at the bird's neck with the arrow, which she did.

@liferusher@FlitterFaux@AtomicNut@Zelosse

---

Kryss was focused intently on the cave entrance and settling her feathers under her coat and dress to distract herself from the now very one-sided fight. It was dim beyond the entrance but she didn't have trouble seeing inside, and there didn't seem to be anyone just inside. I hope that it's not too deep, please let us find her around that bend. She must be alive and inside, right? And if she could get herself in there to hide maybe she's not too badly-

A sudden cold feeling near the joint of one of her wings distracted her from her thoughts and she glanced down, curious. She was surprised to see one of the boys was standing right in front of her, reaching out to her. Or was he holding something out to her? Is that a stick, or some kind of artifact? Why would he- The cold spot suddenly felt hot and wet, and was starting to sting. At that moment she realized the thing in his hand was a knife. She hadn't been able to tell at first with the blade having pierced her coat, dress, and left wing which had been in front of her hip at the time.

He.. stabbed me?!

Kryss was no stranger to scrapes and bruises but she had miraculously avoided any serious injuries despite where she had come from. The worst pain she had felt was the effect of the curse when she tried to leave the island. It had taken time to register in her mind but the pain of her wing being impaled was starting to blossom like a freshly lit fire. Confused and starting to panic Kryss foolishly shoved the boy away and stumbled backward a few steps. On its way out the knife sliced through more of her delicate wings flesh and she cried out, covering the wound with her hands.

"What are you doing?! W-why...?

---

Some time had passed after Leader has asked Rags to find his children for him, to his pain Aya had found out and had come crying towards him that her newly found friend had already left her so soon. It hurted him to see Aya so deeply wounded but he knew that she didn't think it was his fault. Aya had fallen back to sleep on leader his lap clearly seeming quite happy that she had this opportunity. Leader thought it might have been better this way. He had to keep the children happy and calm and not letting them think about the three missing all too much. He gently stroked Aya her head as Neeza entered, he gestured her to be silent in a cheery way despite seeming rather tired himself.

He already knew that Neeza was somewhat odd in her own way, she believed the abyss to be holy and believed that this was the best outcome for the missing ones to have gone further down into the abyss on their own. It wouldn't take long for her wanting to go down further just like them. Leader would still happily hear what the girl had to say to him in order not to make her upset. It was rather strange on its own that she would come at this time to lecture him about giving penalties to the kids. Awkwardly he replied back with a quiet voice.





Leader was gesturing with his hand patting the air above Aya her butt while looking at Neeza as he was meaning to give spankings.





He gestured for her to sit down on the bed along sides the sleeping Aya while he readied the tea without waking Aya, if Neeza wanted off course. There had been 3 empty cups on his desk already for all the visitors that had entered his room this night, he wouldn't get much sleep today...

---

The dawn of nightime had been rather calm for mister elevator operator, he was silently reading a book alongside one of the torches at the beginning of the bridge leading towards the elevator. He was free to do so during these periods since no one would be willing to go down at night anyway. It was more so to check if there were no sneaky brats willing to go down without permission. It was happening way to frequent just recently.

The silent footsteps got the attention of the abyss guard making him put his book aside and stand up to greet the young girl with a warm smile.



He patiently waited for the girl to reply and had already noticed the blue whistle hanging on her shirt. She was free to go alone into the first layer, she didn't seem to be from the orphanage. It was pretty rare to see someone so young with this whistle that wasn't from the orphanage. The Lift operator gestured towards the side of him towards a big board of missing people that had gone into the abyss and never returned.



He gave a somewhat grim look once he mentioned the lost people but kindly smiled at the young girl as not to scare her.



He waited at the elevator controls for the girl to hop on and lead her down once she was ready.

---

The Hammerbeak did not manage to get Rags off once it rolled over. It desperately tried to flap its wings and peck Rags with its enormous beak but was only barely able to get to Rags her arms and shoulders to lightly scrape them. It jumped and moved around as Rags held onto the bird with both hands but to its desperation the girl was locked dead onto the back of the bird.

With Rags on its back it flapped its wings lightly making itself hover above the ground and lash its sharp claws out at Sieg. The claws scratched the boys arms lightly only tearing through clothes lightly and leaving close to no wounds. The bird landed back on the ground again and screeched out a deafening sound for a moment before it eyed back at Sieg. The moment it could look back it felt a heavy hit to the side of its body. The bones of the bird could be heard bursting in its wing as the backpack connected. At the same time that the backpack connected the bottom of the backpack gave in completely scattering the supplies it contained over the ground next to the bird. Any food that was contained within was instantly ruined by the floor and the backpack had to be repaired as well to be used once more.

The bird yelped out as it attempted to headbutt Sieg off the edge of the platform. The movements of the bird had become slower leaving Rags an attempt to hit the bird once more.

With Rags her killing intent and hunting skills she knew exactly where the vital points were in the bird its body. She readied the arrow and drove it right through deep enough to hit both its blood veins and lungs. The bird screeched out in pain as blood burst out of the wound onto Rags. The bird coughed up some blood as well and coughed it towards Sieg. The bird tried stepping closer to Sieg but fell under its own weight towards the front hanging with its beak over the edge. It was breathing heavily as it had completely stopped moving. It was soon to be over for the bird as blood trailed out of its mouth and wounds. The bird would not move anymore after the fight leaving the group the choice to end it or leave it be before they continued on their search.



Kryss had taken a look into the cave but found it out to be not as deep and big as she would have expected, she could easily see to the end when her eyes had adjusted but could only spot a nest with a few big Hammerbeak eggs likely laid by the Hammerbeak they had just been fighting. There was no sign of the girl.

Rags knew that the blonde girl was not here but had found scents of the girl back on the platform they had been coming from. There was a long path alongside the wall of the abyss leading towards one of the more bigger platforms of the first layer.

---

"I didn't mean as a punishment," Neeza clarified, "But as the body needs food, water, and exercise, the mind needs education and regular discipline. It's not about being penalized, it's about experiencing pain for pain's sake. How else can we prepare ourselves for entry into the Abyss? How can the Abyss accept us when all we've known is ignorance and comfort?"

When Leader made the spanking motion, Neeza's normally stoic face faltered for a moment as a light blush started to develop. Back at the monastery, she had been subjected to various forms of physical stress and torment, but the monks always seemed to have avoided the act of spanking. Perhaps they considered it too 'sexual' in nature and so refrained from it as it went against their asceticism and celibacy. Neeza was surprised that this was Leader's go-to when it came to physical punishment. Still, she acquiesced, "I-I wouldn't mind being s-spanked if it prepared me for the rigors of the Abyss..."

When he asked her about sleep, she was relieved to change the subject, "How can I sleep knowing that the greatest unknown lies at my feet? How can I sleep, knowing that I dawdle up here, while my mission is down there? I am...impatient to be tested by the Abyss, to have it push me to my limits, or else break me. To have it teach me in its mysterious and subtle ways. To be changed, to be elevated. When I first heard of the Abyss, across the great sea, my mind's eye saw whispers of divinity, but here, right next to it, I hear nothing, yet it calls to me. But perhaps this too is a lesson in patience, in endurance. I am being tested by comfort. I will overcome this test, I will not allow this comfort to make me soft. I will wait until the Abyss has signaled to me when I am allowed to enter." Neeza reached for the offered cup of tea, hoping to taste acrid bitterness, but finding it mild, and lightly sweetened, to her dismay. Still, she allowed herself to enjoy it, at least a little bit, to take in the mixture of tastes and fragrances, to let the warmth rush through her body and calm her nerves.

@FlitterFaux

The knife clattered to the ground as limp fingers failed to keep hold of the sharp implement. Frantically wiping his eyes with the clean part of his sleeze, Kai desperately cleared the mud and welling water at his eyes to see what he had done.
Part of him knew the answer, that he had struck the wing dead on, but that wing did not belong to the bird that was accosting the other person. This one was..

Eyes cleared, fresh tears began to well up as the true realization dawned on him. This was a person! A real person, with wings! A being of the Abyss. Kais mind reeled at the implications of what he had done. It was one thing to kill a creature of the abyss, and another entirely to kill somethig that still LOOKED human.

"I- I- oh, gods, what have I done. Your wing! We need to get you bandages, stop the bleeding. I'm so sorry!."

Frantic and desperate, Kai abandoned his knife and ran to the discarded pack. There had been food smooshed inside it but the bandages had been on the outside pockets. Fishing them out with clumsy haste, he was beside the bird girl holding them out with a shaking hand.

"Forgive me. I couldn't- I would never have-" Words failed to make sense as the boy panicked at his blunder. "Do you need help applying the bandages?" Was all he managed to squeak out, finally.

---

The winged, and now bleeding, girl froze in place as the boys next words reached her ears and a single thought repeated in her mind: He... saw. He saw my wings. He saw them, he saw them, he saw them, he saw them, he saw them, HE SAW THEM!! Stupid, stupid, stupid, you're so stupid Kryss! What am I going to do?! I have to.. something. Did anyone else see? If it's just him I-

In a full blown panic she saw the boy hold out bandages to her and she lunged forward, eyes wild. The dim light reflected off her red eyes as she clapped a hand over what she did not realize was a masks mouth. The sudden movements made her new wound hurt worse and she squeezed her eyes shut momentarily, trying unsuccessfully to bite back a cry of pain. As fast as she could she thought of a plausible lie, counting on her dress and coat to conceal the hot blood she could feel flowing freely. She spoke quickly and locked eyes with the boy, praying he would just believe her and let it go.

"Wi-wings? You're con-confused or.. must have seen wrong. I'm just a girl, and this is just a scratch, I'll be fine! I promise, okay?

@FlitterFaux

Steadying his breath was difficult. Only a few hours into his first solo descent and already this was fast becoming a tragedy, one that if a bit unluckier could easily have become a potential second fatality if the girl who fell first landed on something other than a soft grassy slope. Dealing with this here and now was top priority, the others still distracted by the bird, Kai hoped.

Holding out both hands unthreateningly, bandages still offered, his tone dropped to a low and friendly. "You're right. Must have been my imagination. Whatever I hit, wrap it up quick. Won't say a word, promise, but please. You're bleeding."

Sieg looked at the Bird. Then at the little girl. Then at the mess that were his boots. And his backpack. He grumbled under his breath, as he clenched his fists. He muttered a curse, and then breathed deep. His ribs hurt, and there was a gash torn in the backpack. And no sign of the girl. Well, maybe now that there was a bunch of other suicidal morons who had caught up, his chances of finding her might raise a bit. Specially seeing how a little girl with a rock was better at killing things than himself, that had proper trainers.

Well, this was the insanity of the Abyss altogether. But it didn't end up like this, oh no... He grimaced as he hoisted his backpack and set it aside. He'd need to repair it and switch priorities. There was no jumping down in a rat race now. He stared at Rags, muttering something alongside a "thank you." You should always thank the help.

And there was the other girl and the rash fool of earlier. He had stabbed her apparently... Such a track record really. Maybe he should kick him off into the Abyss. But the girl who apparently had -wings- (The earlier sight had not been a fluke) had been stabbed. He knew some medicine, maybe bird parts weren't that different from humans. I wonder how much would someth...someone like her cost in a market of the strange and bizarre? Still, this was the Abyss. He couldn't be picky with his company. Human or not, the girl seemed rather sentient and rational.

He advanced towards Kryss, pulling out his medical supplies as he drew closer. He looked at Kai. "Out of the way, this is something that needs to be done by someone who at least has an idea of what he is doing." His gaze stern, he stared at the girl. "Look, girl, you can sell it off as an scratch, but I can see it's not. I don't really care about those wings, really. This is the Abyss. We could be finding fire breathing three eyed monkeys next. But if you don't let me close the wound and staunch the bleeding, every single predator in the vicinity will think you're the next meal."

"And since I am looking for a little girl... well -was- until people suddenly decided started raining and stupid birds tried to headbutt me into the precipice, that would only add to my troubles." He almost snarled. "So be a good girl, and show me the wound. I will fix it. We're wasting enough time already."

He then looked at the bird. It was smashed up. "Also can someone get me the edible parts of that overgrown pigeon?"

@FlitterFaux

---

---

Rags' arm and thigh muscles were aching from gripping the bird so tight for so long, but as it gave up on fight back and collapsed, the savage girl, covered from head to toe in blood, smiled, and looked over to Seig. "We eat bird! I get ed...ed-bull parts!" she declared cheerfully, before looking over to Kryss and the two other boys, one of whom she recognised as the boy who'd been helping her to fight, and frowned. Something was not right. She couldn't see the wings or the blood from where she was, but the distress on the face of both of them was worrying. She stood up, still standing on the neck of the bird, and yelled out to them. "Hey! You ok?"

Rags looked down the path along the wall, and reasoned that the platform down there was likely where she would pick the trail back up, but before Rags could go down there, she wanted her friends to be happy, healthy and well-fed. And that would mean cooking this bird. First she needed a fire. Luckily, there was a tree on the platform they had just come from, and the wood had been dry. Rags began to climb the platform rather fast but noticed, as she did so, she was starting to feel sick. Every fibre of her being was screaming at her to stop ascending, and Rags was then type to listen when her body told her something, so she descended again. Rags would have no problem eating the bird meat raw, but the other three, who lived in houses with adults, most likely would like the meat to be cooked. Rags would discuss the matter of food to them later.

@liferusher@AtomicNut@FlitterFaux@Zelosse

---

Kryss wasn't sure if he actually believed her, she was just happy to see he was backing off the issue. Breathing a sigh of relief she took a the offered bandages and carefully lowered her hands until they were over her midsection. She tried to slow her racing heartbeat and manage the pain but both tasks proved very difficult.

"Th-thank you. Gonna be fine. Just a scratch."

Not a scratch at all, I hope he didn't hit anything serious. Teacher said I have a lot of blood vessels and delicate parts in my wings just like any bird. It feels like it's bleeding a lot, and it hurts so bad. Can I even wrap the wound up with simple bandages? But I just need to keep it hidden and not move it around. If I can just bear with it, we have to be close to the girl by now. Not much longer.

Just as she was getting used to the idea that she had everything under control, or at least well enough, the tall, older boy with a scary look on his face came right up to her and shattered that illusion. She felt her heart drop as he called her right out on both her wings and her wound. He claimed he didn't care but was that even true, or if it was would it stay true once they got back to the surface. Terrified of this boy and the fact that he also had seen Kryss fell back on hastily lying. She could think of no other way to protect herself.

"But-but it was just an accident, and he did just graze me. I'm totally fine! And just a girl! You m-must have gotten confused in the dark, you see I came down here on a leafy vine. That's what you must have thought were wings. See?" She put her arms out to her side and turned mostly around to show her back, unable to help but grimace at the pain again though she managed not to cry out this time. "No wings! N-now, shouldn't we be hurrying? That girl needs help more than I do." She took the opportunity to call back to Rags in mock cheer when she called out, asking if everything was ok. "Yes of course! Everything is fine!

She forced a smile and looked into Sieg's eyes, trying to tell if her fabrication was being bought. She didn't think about how the faint, shifting light of the force field or the flickering fire might betray the shine in her eyes. She was distracted by what he had said about the predators targeting her. Ascending the Abyss years ago she had been incredibly lucky to not get seriously injured to the point of drawing undue attention from those creatures attuned to the smell of blood. They may only be on the first level now but she had already been attacked here once without bleeding all over the place. Now she might actually be putting them in danger, and when she started climbing back up again...

She didn't know what to do, all she knew was that she had to hide what she really was. There would be no going back if she didn't, it would be far too much risk.

The only thing I could do would be... to go back. And I don't think I'd survive this time, not like this.

---

Leader has percieved the way of flogging the orphans in different manner than Neeza had intended. Instead of hurting them for their faults Neeza wanted to train the orphans into becommimg pro delvers by hurting them on regular basis. Neeza was right in some way but, something did not sit right with leader.



The mentioning of spanking Neeza for comming put of bed at this hour definitly made Neeza blush. Neeza definitly did seem to have a thing for being hurt leader thought to himself. He did not judge the girl for anything like that but it might be somewhat troubling at this young age if she underwent the wrong actions. Being hurted by a monster wasn't the same as a light spank after all.

Leader had quickly changed the subject to easen up the mood hanging right now. He has questioned her as to why she couldn't sleep this night. Plenty of reasons were at hand with the children missing but they all slept like logs after their activities today. Yet, Neeza was awake from her excitement about the abyss. Leader raised a frown. This was remarkable.



Leader gave a small upperbody bow and a cheerfull smile towards the girl while he handed her the tea. Seeing her drink the hot beverage made Chris smile all the more seeing how cute she could really be with that enjoyment on her face.

---

---

The group had come to a major conclusion with the bird. They ended up killing it after it had fiercly attacked them and so resulted in a calm environment once more. The trail of the girl could only be noticed by rags her sharp nose at the moment with further no clues due to the darkness of the night. It was better to set up camp for the night and look further for her in the morning. With a bit of luck she would be founs first thing tommorow. Siege had been skinning the meat of the bird slowly, removing all the edible parts for them to eat while Rags tried to get firewood. After a quick scan of the area and some thinking it was clear that the bird nest would be on this platform sheltered from the rain. It had to be made up out of wood that could be used for a fire. Kai and Kryss were still quarreling about having seen the wings of the poor girl while the rest moved on with no notice of them at all.

---

"I suppose that is... True, that is vaguely true what you tell me Neeza. It is true yet, inhumane. Their expertise is formed from their experiences in the abyss by fighting and delving deeper, yes. It is harsh however to train someone into an 'super abyss delver' by hurting them so that they become used to the reality of the abyss. We won't force those methods on someone of that age and certainly not on someone that unwillingly led up to our home. Children need to have a childhood too to become decent citizens, just like you Neeza."

Neeza tried not to flinch when Leader mentioned having a childhood. True, the latter half of her life had been spent in opulence, but it was unable to erase what happened in the former half. Having experienced both had forced her to attempt to wrap her mind around the 'why' of the situation. The only conclusion she could reach was that fate was arbitrary and random, inherently unfair. Some of her fellow orphans still lived in poverty and under harsh, abusive labor conditions, while other children knew nothing but warm beds and full bellies their whole lives. Thus Neeza did not see herself as the most fortunate, nor the least fortunate, but seeing such extremes opened her third eye to some deeper truth that she was still trying to grapple with. In the religion of her homeland, the concept of 'nothingness' or 'emptiness' was considered holy, virtuous. Yet her people had lost their way. They reached for greater and greater heights of comfort, creating such dichotomies. But the truth was not to be found in high places, nor was it to be found in the light. It was to be found in the deep, in the dark, in the only place in the world that could be called the embodiment of 'nothingness', of 'emptiness'. Still, she needed to trust, that whatever higher power governed the Abyss, that called to her, held dominion over all matters of life and death, and that even the fate that she saw as arbitrary and random was the working of this higher power. After all, it had led her here, hadn't it? That being the case, perhaps she should trust 'fate' for the time being, and allow the other children the comfort that was their due. Perhaps the discipline Neeza sought was for herself alone, for now. After all, she was the chosen prophet, not them. Unless she had some faith to bring to them, a religion t obelieve in and motivate them to purify themselves and prepare for transcendence, the discipline she wished to enact would be as pearls before swine. Neeza merely nodded, wordlessly, in response, though her critical eyes continued to bore into his.

"Neeza, I'm sure you'll be a great delver someday. If you already think about the abyss like this I am sure you'll be the one to get to the bottom of it. But, the abyss is not only full of pain and horror. It can be the most womderfull place as well. So please, use the comfort we give you to enjoy the abyss as well."

As if reading her mind, Leader asked her to 'enjoy the beauty of the Abyss' as well as its hardships. Neeza wondered if this went against creed. Of course, strength was paramount to survival, but if she closed her eyes to all the Abyss had to offer, then she was being ignorant, and unworthy of being the Prophet of the Precipice. Neeza nodded again, and finished her tea. "Thank you, Leader, for the thought-provoking discussion. I believe that I will be able to sleep tonight." She got up, returned the bow, and headed back to bed.