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How close... how close am I to him... he has to be here, and yet...I knew it was her, even before Narilmor spoke her name. I knew it was Meridia, as soon as I heard the whispers, the reverent murmurs of the lady and her light, mechanically intoned by her obedient minions as we cut our way through them. The minions she enslaved here, stripped of their free will, as if immortality were a magnanimous reward for eternal mindless servitude.Is that what you're trying to do to your Knight, Glister Witch? Does it gall you so much that he still has a will of his own? Should I rub it in your face, while I'm here, that he gave himself for me and not for you? Would that get you to finally stop ignoring the challenges ringing through your fruity-colored void?She must be able to sense me here, can't she, treading once more in her domain. I've certainly been making enough of a ruckus since we took down her stalwart guardian. To think, all this, three thousand years of vigilance and the sinking of an entire city, all for a dumb chunk of stone. Although maybe I should be thanking that chunk of stone for leading me here, even though this whole thing was just supposed to be a favor for an old acquaintance I ran into back in Eastmarch.I guess it's that river again, leading me where I need to be, right into the Colored damn Rooms. And yet being here, exactly where I've wanted to be ever since I first held that book in my trembling hands, it's still not enough. Every time I try to leap from this ledge, some invisible force holds me back. Does the Lady of Infinite Energies want to keep me from him that badly? It must be enjoyable watching me struggle, knowing how much power she still has to deny me.But he's here, isn't he. He has to still be here. Do you know how close I am, Darien? Which speck of light are you? Can you hear me calling your name? Did you even know I could holler this loudly? I'm here, and you know I would smash every rock in this place until I found you. If only I could freaking move.Dammit, I think Tharayya is coming to drag me away. I should tell her to just go without me, to leave me here until I've had my fill of shouting and peering and reaching toward what I can't have. But Quintus left her in rough shape, so I don't know if she'd be able to make it back to civilization on her own. Dammit, do I really have to turn away again, when I'm this agonizingly close?I hope you can hear me, Darien. I hope you can feel the fire blazing inside me right now. I may not be able to come any closer to you, but I'm still not leaving you behind. If my tripping into the Colored Rooms can somehow let you know that, then maybe it was worth the trip.