Lucy and Dreadlilocks were greatly intrigued (and somewhat terrified) by the notion of the Odsplut, and urged Uriel to tell them more about it. The shark was more than happy to oblige, and the three liveliest members of the now 5-person group went on talking until they finally fell asleep. Excepting Lucy, of course…although even she eventually became too tired to do anything but lie back and stare at the ceiling.

A few hours later, in the pale blue hours just before sunrise, Pitch got up from her sleeping place and went to look for Azor.

She found him sitting outside, staring at the gradually brightening sky as if awaiting the return of some hated enemy. In his nebulous hands he held one of his black roses, twirling it back and forth.

“…Perhaps it’s just me, but you don’t look like someone who ‘doesn’t need any special considerations’,” she said.

“I beg your pardon…?” he said without turning around.

She sat down beside him. “Look, let me be frank…I want you to tell me what I can do for you.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous…ever since we arrived her, you’ve been particularly distressed by the heat and the sun. And as determined as you might be to spend a whole day suffering in silence for the sake of your pride, I can’t be comfortable with that. So let’s just discuss the problem like the two mature adults we are, and try to find a solution.”

“…I have nothing to discuss with you. Whether or not I suffer is no concern of yours.”

“But it does concern me. That’s what I’m trying to tell you...” She pulled one of her braids apart and began to rebraid it. “…I promise, I’m not trying to embarrass you. I’m only trying to help you…and I think, although you hate to admit it, that you would like to be helped. But in order for that to happen, you have to trust someone. You understand that, don’t you?”

Azor did not reply.

Pitch sighed. “…This may be the only chance you will get to discuss this privately,” she went on. “Uriel and Dreadlilocks are asleep; Lucy is out of it…even if she wasn’t, she can’t hear us from out here. So…talk to me.”

Azor remained silent. So finally Pitch said, “How about this: I’ll give you until the sun rises. If you don’t say anything by then, I will leave you be.” And with that, she continued to unbraid and rebraid her hair.

The two sat together in silence for a while, as the sky became a lighter and brighter blue. Azor switched his tail a few times, and narrowed his false eyes…but it wasn’t until the first few rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon that he finally spoke.

“…Why are you doing this?” he asked. “Am I really so…pitiful to you??”

“…I suppose you are. But not in the way you think,” she answered. “You see, we’re a lot alike, you and I—”

“I told you, I despise clichés…”

“Please, hear me out. I just…I know what it’s like to make a life out of thinking so little of other people. Not wanting to share anything with them…even when you really should. You know, it took me all night to work up the courage to admit that I’ve been worried about you…”

“…But I know that, although it’s hard enough when pride is on the line, it’s much easier to accept help than it is to ask for it,” she continued. “So I want to be…the person I wish I had around during times when I felt the way you feel. Someone who offers help, so that I don’t have to ask.”

Azor began switching his tail again, a bit more rapidly this time. Then he made his metallic sighing sound again. “…There is…something you might do for me,” he said. “But I would have to trust you with some very personal information; things I have never told to another living soul. And furthermore, I would have to trust you with my life. My very life, do you understand??”

“If that is so, I understand why you were so reluctant to tell me,” Pitch replied. “But if you’re trying to scare me into backing down, it will not work. I have promised to help you in ten different ways at this point, and that is what I will do. Without fail.”

“If you do fail, I will never forgive you. I may even kill you, if I am able. Will you still accept this responsibility?”

“I will accept it.”

“And if you breathe a word of anything I am about to say to you to anyone else, I will DEFINITELY kill you, even if I have to come back from the grave to do it. And I assure you, it will not be a painless death—”

“I’ve told you time and again that you don’t frighten me, Azor.”