Page 149 of The Last Remaining Light

But the sight of a child standing among them, small hand wrapped around a ruined toy, made every scholarly category inside her fracture into pieces.

Once, someone had loved that child.

Once, someone had tucked her into bed, brushed hair from her forehead, perhaps told her not to be afraid of storms or bells or shadows beneath doors.

Now she stood in an abandoned transit gallery beneath a burning city, eyes emptied of everything that had once made her herself.

Elowynn choked back a sob.

A strangled sound worked its way out of Caelyn’s throat.

The Starless stopped moving. All of them.

Alyra halted with her blade raised and Korvel held a reso-tech pistol, aiming it at the nearest figure. Lora’s breathing ceased beside Elowynn.

The Starless didn't look at Alyra’s blade.

They didn't look at Korvel’s weapon.

They didn't even look at the astrylite crystals bulging from Lora’s pockets.

They looked at Caelyn.

Elowynn felt his body go rigid against hers. Whatever strength he had been borrowing from her vanished. It was replaced by a stillness so complete it seemed to draw the air from the gallery. The darkness beneath his eyes deepened. Frost spread in a thin ring beneath his boots, black-edged and delicate, before stopping at the edge of Elowynn’s skirt.

The child tilted her head, the movement small. Curious.

Then the Starless stepped aside.

The child moved first, shuffling backward until her shoulder brushed the wall. The woman followed. Then the elderly man. One by one, they withdrew from the center of the gallery and left the path open, leading toward the stairs.

A silence fell that no one wanted to break, all of them barely able to draw breath, not wanting to draw their attention.

Elowynn could feel Caelyn’s pulse where his wrist pressed against her hand. It had become erratic again. He stared at the figures with the same haunted look she remembered from the undercroft beneath Lumenshire, when the dormant Starway reacted to him and everything they thought they knew about him changed.

He didn't understand this. None of them did. It was evident on all their faces.

Alyra was the first to take a step, though even she hesitated. The resonance blade stayed raised as she edged toward the open path, her body positioned between Lora and the Starless. The figures didn't react. Their clouded eyes remained fixed on Caelyn with an attention that felt almost reverent.

Korvel looked back at Elowynn, his face having lost its color beneath the soot. “What is he?” he asked.

Caelyn didn’t react to the question, but Elowynn’s anger rose so fast it unsteadied her.

“Keep moving,” she demanded.

Korvel’s gaze snapped to her, the old tension between them returned, sharpened by fear. Then he looked at Caelyn again, at the blood staining the bandages and the frost beneath his boots and the Starless waiting in silence along the wall.

Whatever argument he might have offered died before reaching his mouth.

“If the Vigil sees this. Sees him. They won't waste time asking questions,” he muttered as he moved again.

No one spoke again as they began crossing the gallery.

Elowynn kept her arm locked around Caelyn’s waist, though she could feel him trying to draw away with every step. The Starless watched him as he passed, their heads turning in slow unison.

Halfway across, Caelyn stopped.

Elowynn looked up at him and noted his eyes were fixed on the child.