[ Is it? Working?? At the very least, she’s moving at a steady pace, albeit a slow one, and they’re just about there, the ground growing marshy under their feet. ]

Well, she hated humans. And... other two-legged people.

[ Suddenly he finds the idea of describing Hayame vaguely daunting. You couldn’t have called them friends by any stretch of the imagination, but everything about the way she was and lived- lives- is both utterly foreign and commanding of respect, even if Simon Does Not Get It. Maybe retroactive respect that he didn’t give her at the time. Maybe something like that.

Then: ] Should I just, uh- I guess I’ll stay to make sure you don’t fall in there.

[ ...it sounds like a sacrifice of time, but ‘making sure one of the sick Circle members doesn’t drown’ wasn’t the actual most useful thing he can think of doing right now. ]