Neria leaned into his warmth again, as selfish as it might have been. There was a sensation of gratitude tucked there, deep into his mind and heart; it swelled with the love she had for him with a flame of its own, which she used to keep the both of them warm. She felt the tension in him. Her arms wrapped around him in turn, comfortable here with him again.

"We did. All of us did, all but Grell...but she's been gone for a tick. Wouldn't surprise me if she's gone to look." And as Grell did not have the makings of divinity, her ability to find the Herald might be compromised.

"We found her in the sea and she gave us each a trial. The others are hard at work with theirs but it's..."

How did she make him understand what had happened? The loss, all of her torn away? The thought that she would lose everyone else to the cacophony of their changes?

It was clear she struggled with knowing what to say. Softly, she murmured, "I feel like we're all breaking apart, being stripped down to nothing. Being forced to do things we never wanted to do."