[ GUARD ] / he'd never imagined that he'd be leaving the xianzhou luofu for a celebration on a distant planet, isolated until recently, and end up doing most of the same tasks he did at home——at least, when they were in an active warzone. monitoring rations, managing supplies, keeping watch. . . if it wasn't for the temperature, he'd almost be able to close his eyes and imagine he was with his friends and companions among the cloud knights.
but it didn't get this cold on the luofu, at least not in a way he'd ever experienced before. even having to choose between keeping his hands under the blanket shrouded about his shoulders or risk taking them out to seek some additional flecks of warmth from the sputtering fire isn't something he'd ever had to think about.
but he sobers discomfort with the knowledge that he can always board the starship with the general and go back home anytime they want. this situation was dangerous and uncertain, but they could always choose to leave. not that he could imagine the general doing that, but. . .
yanqing looks over one shoulder at the hazy silhouette of makeshift lean-tos just on the fringe of the fire's feeble glow. it was different for the people who lived here and called this place home. what kind of righteous warriors would they be if they left them to suffer through these hardships alone? the general had said that when belobog had lost connection with the outside during the last eternal freeze, it'd been impossible to help. . . and maybe it was just his imagination, but he'd thought the general had sounded regretful when he'd said it.
the unyielding stream of thoughts only gives way when trained senses pick up on the arrival of someone else. "hm?" gaze lifts from its fixed place on the ice-bitten stone, and he turns with a shuffle of furs to see a young girl coming toward him, ostentatiously dressed and with the air and expression of someone significant, or at least who believes herself to be. had she been assigned to the next watch, or was she just unable to sleep? he tries to offer her a kind smile, strangers though they were. "i'm not tired yet. so if you have the next watch, you can just go back to sleep. i'll cover it."
Oh, a child. Herta blinks, a little surprised despite herself.
It’s not that the authorities had set someone so young to guard duty, which most people would probably call irresponsible. Or that a cursory check revealed him to be a far more powerful Hunt pathstrider than one might expect for his age. What truly gave the genius pause is simply that she hasn’t seen the face of a true, organic child in a few Amber Eras, not one that isn’t of her own likeness.
Kids are so unbelievably stubborn. When they set their mind to something, there’s nothing they wouldn’t do to achieve it, though, judging by this boy’s energy readings, his obsession is of quite a different nature than Herta’s was. Funny, isn't it, that her precocious self from the past is Herta’s chosen form even now? Any genius should know that childish tenacity is one of the most valuable, precious things in the universe—something Herta refuses to let go of for herself.
Herta huffs a laugh. What to tell him? This body is an automaton, she could say. She could say that this puppet needed far less sleep than he did, and it would be true. But it’s also true that she has work to do, and even then, everyone deserves the opportunity to make their own mistakes.
“Well, okay,” she agrees with a cheeky smile. She helpfully pulls out a vial of phlogiston and dumps it in the campfire, watching it flare back to roaring life before turning away. “I’ll leave it to you, then.”
