Ouroboros Spine or in the temple of absent gods

And so it was her — Valiant felt the back of his neck prickle in self-conscious unease. As pleased as he was to meet her, he could not help feeling he had come to her ill-prepared. Dutch had spoken the words with a certain kind of intent — the kind that'd led often in the past to wild goose chases or death-defying adventure. He could not imagine how such a woman could bring him either of those things, and it made him nervous.

"Thanks," he said, polite but artless. He was not incapable of the flowery way of speaking that came so naturally to Dutch, but he reserved it for song and story rather than conversation. In his own flesh, he was stoic until otherwise moved.

While they walked, Valiant with short steps to make up for his long legs, he contemplated that word: ulaq. He had heard it before in conjunction with death, but when they reached it, he could easily see that it was a place of life.

"He asked me to come and see you," he said, peering into the ulaq with guarded curiosity. He would not breech the threshold unless explicitly invited. "While he was gone," he clarified. "I s'pose he meant for me to see if there was anything I could help you with?"

His tone conveyed willingness — eagerness, even! — but there was an undertone of wariness that suggested he wasn't quite convinced of his own words.

Valiant's smile was tired. It twinkled in his eyes rather than in his teeth.

"He's real taken with you," he added, in part as payback for Dutch's treatment of him in front of Ariadne, but mainly because it was an indelible truth.