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When Hector and Garovel had explained their strange encounter with Rasalased to him and Qorvass, that was the thing that Asad found the most curious.

Rasalased was apparently able to gaze deeply into their souls and judge their character. To measure their worthiness. And most importantly, he said that he had "learned his lesson after the three."

There was little doubt in Asad's mind that the Dry God had been referring to the War of the Three Sands. If Rasalased was able to perceive the greater world beyond the Shards, then it would only make sense that a time in which the Sandlords had tried to annihilate each other left a lasting impression on him.

Perhaps before that conflict, the Shards worked just as Qorvass said. Any sufficiently skilled Lion would be able to unlock their power. And after seeing the destruction wrought by such indiscriminate strength, Rasalased decided to take a more cautious approach.

If that was the case, then Asad had to wonder what hope there was for him. What did it even mean to be worthy of the Dry God's power? He had a feeling that only Rasalased himself could answer that question.

And he had another feeling that perhaps his own inability to access the Shards, to even speak to Rasalased, was itself an answer. Maybe Rasalased had already judged him and found him lacking.

He certainly wasn't perfect. It seemed like every day, he discovered some new way in which he was a failure. As a friend. Or a warrior. A lord. A father. A husband.

What was left for him to be worthy of? From the sound of it, Rasalased would see right through him. There was no point in putting on airs.

His golden eyes eased shut as he rubbed his forehead, trying not to dwell on those thoughts again. Trying not to imagine how many people he'd let down, how many he would in the future.

Trying not to let the weight of the world crush him.