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((Double Wednesday -- Page 2 of 2))
Hector also felt in that moment as if Eleyo knew that he knew. How could the man not? It hadn’t even been half a day since Hector had listened to him go on about how much he admired Secho. Eleyo had to know what Hector was thinking, right now, too.

And indeed, when Eleyo took a step toward Malast, and Hector raised an iron wall in front of the man, Eleyo did not look surprised.

“What are you doing, Senmurai?” said Eleyo.

“Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me that?” said Hector.

“I will do as I please, Senmurai.”

Somehow, it didn’t sound like a term of reverence or respect anymore. “You don’t know what you’re doing. We don’t know anything about this Malast guy.” He shot a glance at Malast. “No offense.”

The Idle God gave a shrug.

“I understand the risk involved,” said Eleyo. “Now let me pass. It is my choice.”

Hector clenched his jaw as he deliberated. Honestly, he had no idea what to do now. This was all too sudden and crazy. Should he stop this guy? His gut was telling him that he absolutely should, but what actual justification was there? If Eleyo wanted to gamble with his own life like this, shouldn’t he have been free to do so?

There was just something wrong. Something about Eleyo that was bothering him right now. Something in that conversation they’d had. Something in the way the man was now acting in front of Malast. Almost like a different person. Suddenly fearless, where before the man had been so cautious that he waited two entire days to reveal he spoke Mohssian.

And there was that thing Malast had called him. Hidden One? What the hell was that about?

Not to mention, what even made Hector and Eleyo “suitable” as a god’s vessel in the first place? That was arguably the most important question of all, and it had still not been answered.

There were just so many unsettling things, all coming together as one formless, unspecified concern in the pit of Hector’s stomach. He didn’t have the luxury to think about each one of them, much less the time to do so, and he certainly didn’t know how to put any of that into words, but right now, that uneasy feeling remained strong enough that he wanted to listen to it, no matter what.

Before the tense silence could draw out for too long, however, Malast intervened. “You wish to become Secho’s vessel, after all, Hidden One?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Why do you call him that?” said Hector. “Hidden One? And why do you call me Iron One? How did you know that I can use iron, huh?”

“You only get one question at a time,” said Malast.

“If you really want one of us to be Secho’s vessel,” said Hector, having had just about enough of their game, “then you should be willing to answer all of our questions. Unless there’s something you’re hiding from us, of course. Something that might make us refuse.”