Sonder remained where she was for just a moment after the sound of wings had faded, and the rider vanished out of sight.
The dust settled and no more wind came from the wing beats.
The beam of light disappeared as the clouds thickened and spread again.
She looked down at her hands and finally opened them.
The dust-creature was still there, compressed tightly into itself, now only the size of a grain. Slowly, it expanded, trembling faintly.
"You should go," Sonder said quietly.
She lifted her hands.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the little creature lifted itself, slowly, rising just above her.
It hovered there, wavering, as though it was unsure. It drifted back and then forward again.
The dust-creature circled her wrists once, then bobbed upward and settled against her shoulder, nestling into the hollow between her neck and collarbone. It weighed nothing, but she felt it there all the same.
It quivered, afraid, but it did not leave.
"If you stay," she said, "I won't turn back."
The creature made its small cooing sound, softer than before.
She took that as agreement, or at least acceptance.
Sonder turned her gaze toward the mountain.
The rider said that their lord would be there, and that was where Sonder intended to go.
Her eyes were set on it.
She adjusted the strap of her pack, with the few things she owned in it, and shifted her grip on her staff, and began to walk.
The ground rose steadily, loose stone giving way to harsher rock and darker earth.
And every time Sonder stumbled, the dust-creature clung more tightly to her shoulder, shrinking whenever it felt a shudder.
Sonder lifted one hand now and then, steadying the creature with her fingers so it wouldn't be shaken loose.
"There's no need to be afraid," she murmured.
The creature pressed closer.
She didn't know what really awaited her on the top, but she would try to find out.
She was torn between wanting to find a shard there, and hoping there wasn't one; so that another place had not suffered under its evil influence.
If the lord of these dark lands was a good person, and could see that Sonder was trying her best, then he should give the shard, or any he possessed, over to her.
She should have them-
Sonder shook her head. For a moment, greed overcame her.
As if the shards belonged to her or were her rightful possession.
They belonged to nobody, and nobody had a right to have them.
That didn't mean that she wasn't going to collect them and try to do good with them.
If she got what she wanted out of them, she'd destroy them, or lock them away somewhere where nobody would be tempted or corrupted by them.