"It's best if you aren't, but even if you are, there's still that Koi Carp up there, poised to leap. It carries everyone's hopes. Although we can't see them, they've actually been preparing all along."
"As long as that Koi Carp can leap over the Dragon Gate, we won't need any bird, will we?"
His voice was as refined as ever, as soothing as a spring breeze.
His smiling eyes curved into two crescents, giving him the reassuring, dependable air of an older brother.
Lynn could tell that he was trying to comfort him.
But it really was just as he said.
If the carp could leap over the Dragon Gate, what need would there be for a bird?
Besides, he might not even be that bird. And even if he was, what did it matter? The future was still far away. The Koi Carp hadn't leaped yet, the deadly poison hadn't spread here yet, and even if the sky really did fall...
Wouldn't there still be taller people to hold it up?
"I understand."
Lynn's tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed. Relief showed on his face as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Thank you, Sir Awen. You're right. Thinking about something so outlandish right now really is a little too abstract for me."
"Besides, I don't think I'm really some fish covered in bird feathers. So I'll leave something as grand as saving the world to that Koi Carp, and just quietly be a lazy bum. Wouldn't you agree, Sir Awen?"
Sir Awen froze.
He looked at Lynn's dead-fish eyes, which practically had "[Not my fucking problem]" written all over them.
Suddenly, he felt that perhaps he shouldn't have brought that up.
"But I still have to thank you for helping me see things differently, Sir Awen."
Lynn