"WHERE IS YOUR KNIGHT?" 

The ability to ask questions is unique. It is a mark of an intelligence that endeavors to make the unknown a little more well-known. 

Discovering the answer to a question should inspire further inquiry; a grasp for clarification, a search for more details, a pursuit of a better understanding. There's always another layer to reveal, another secret to uncover, another level to explore. Misinterpretations, misconceptions, mistakes—these things add further complexity, heaping complications upon efforts to decipher the riddles fabricated by encountering that which we do not know—but as ever, it remains an issue of individualized perspective. When conversationalists trade the ask and the answer, they work together to weave a tapestry of meaningful dialogue that enriches both parties. 

Questions should always lead to more questions, but it's the inclination to ask that makes all the difference. 

Knees locked, haunches tensed, and prepared to spring into action (restrained only by the indecision as to whether fight or flight was the necessary course), Adaeze gazes up at this monolith of mystery towering above her. A face engraved with benevolence is encouraging, but might yet cover for a sadistic trap. Slow to trust, though audacious enough to engage a risk, Adaeze thinks about this bizarre inquiry. 

"Why would I carry the night with me, even if I could? It's dark enough down here." 

Rumbles cascade from above, and Adaeze's ears flick with tension. But the sound is only a little bit of mirth on a monumental scale.  

"IS IT NOT THIS DARK EVERYWHERE?" 

At Adaze's shoulder hovers a pale wisp, seemingly indifferent to the booming voice descending from above. The animated mote of flickering flame is a boon in gloomy places such as this cavernous space, yet hardly bright enough to see beyond the confines of the earth. 

"Outside the Buried Kingdom, it is only dark at night." 

"WHICH REMINDS ME- AND PERHAPS I SHALL REPHRASE... IS A LITTLE COURSER NOT USUALLY ACCOMPANIED BY LITTLE HUMAN?" 

"What is... a hooman? Are you a hue-man?"  

"I AM A HUGE MAN."  

The statue gives the impression of waggling his great stony brow in jest. Adaeze gazes up at the rocks, sculpted into the semblance of a figure somehow familiar and yet still so alien. And large. And so very, very heavy. 

"Even so... I do not think you are a man made to travel." 

"I MAY NOT BE... BUT A HUMAN KNIGHT OUGHT TO BE SMALL ENOUGH TO RIDE A NOBLE STEED SUCH AS YOURSELF." 

"I do not know of any Courser that carries the burden you describe... What does a human knight do?" 

"THEY ARE VERY BRAVE. THEY WEAR MAGNIFICENT SUITS OF ARMOR, AND VANQUISH FOES WITH THEIR BEAUTIFUL SWORDS." 

"Coursers can do those things too." 

"REALLY?" 

"Really, really." 

"HOW DOES A LITTLE COURSER WIELD A LITTLE SWORD?" 

"If I find a sword, I could show you." 

"I WOULD LIKE THAT. I DO NOT GET OUT MUCH." 

"But you have been down here a very long time... and I would like to know what you know. When I find magnificent armor and a beautiful sword, would you might teach me how to be a knight with no man?" 

"I WOULD! AND THEN WE SHALL BOTH BE THE WISER. I WOULD ASK YOU TO SHAKE ON IT, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE HANDS AND MINE ARE LITERALLY SET IN STONE..." 

"I will take you at your word, if you'll take me at mine."