Instead of relief, a newly intensified wave of terror gripped the knight’s heart when a small, gentle presence appeared next to him, trying to steady him, urging him not to worry. He was about to open his mind in protest, to warn the small and light stranger to stay away from him for fear of taking them both down if he were to topple over, but then the stranger kept on talking, and for a moment, everything went… dull.

The knight’s eyes lost their spark, as though a cloud of grey smoke enveloped him. His expression, previously pained, relaxed into cold neutrality as he moved himself into a sitting position in one slow, deliberate motion, like a keyed automaton with its springs wound up.

The next thing he knew was that he was suddenly sat down on the steps, his pose unnaturally stiff, not at all like the relative comfort he’d allowed himself before the stranger first approached him. Vibrant colors returned to the world around him gradually, and when he raised his dark brown eyes at the other man, there was a clear tint of confusion in his gaze, as though he’s just woken up and hasn’t had the chance to get his bearings yet.

Something was pressed into his hand, the stranger spoke again, and before the knight had the chance to feel a little more like himself, his focus was gone again.

His body moved in the same mechanical, singularly purposeful way, bringing the waterskin to his lips. Cold fresh water seemed inexplicably sweet on his tongue and provided some much-needed relief to his parched throat, but every gulp turned agonizing just from knowing – from feeling with every fiber of his being – that none of it was Tenth’s doing, that someone – or something – else had him under its control.

He placed the half-empty waterskin on the cobblestone step, and his shoulders slumped immediately, like a puppet with its strings cut. “S-stop,” he muttered, discarding the remaining gauntlet and dropping his head into his hands. Then, with a long sigh of a futile attempt to steel his nerves, “gods…”

He stared at his palms for a few seconds, as if trying to judge whether or not he could trust his hands not to move on their own, then raised his eyes and glanced around, taking in the sharpness and vibrancy of shapes and colors. It struck him then that his earlier state – the dullness, the quiet, the purposefulness, the lack of need or ability to think of anything else – that was familiar. Everything else was new.