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Her answer comes back slightly altered by the magic but perfectly understandable. “I can. Ysra warned me it would feel strange, but that wasn’t a very useful description.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

The outer doors grind apart. Dark water stretches beyond the threshold. Valerie stares through it for several seconds before taking her first careful step onto the seabed.

I move beside her.

Her first few steps are careful but clumsy. The weighted boots sink slightly into the ocean floor. The reinforced joints resist when she tries to take the same long stride she would on dry ground. By the third step, one boot catches behind her and forces her to stop.

“Shorter steps,” I tell her. “Set one foot before you move the other.”

Valerie tries again. She reduces her stride and gives each boot a moment to settle against the seabed before shifting forward. The movement is still awkward, but the suit stops dragging her backward with every step.

“That’s better,” Valerie says. “It feels less like walking and more like negotiating with every part of my body.”

“You’ll stop noticing the joints once you find the rhythm.”

She tests another step, then another, gradually moving beside me without having to think through every motion.

The trench is darker beyond the fortress lights. Pale sand collects in the hollows between rough shelves of stone, and small creatures retreat into cracks as our boots disturb the seabed. Valerie keeps turning her helmet from one side to the other, watching anemones fold away from us. A narrow school of silver fish disappears beneath an overhang.

I spent so much time thinking about what could hurt her down here that I never considered what she might enjoy.

A sweep of water lifts silt across our path. I move closer and gesture for her to stay near my shoulder until it passes.

Valerie adjusts her footing without trouble this time. “You can stop checking my boots every few seconds. I’m getting the hang of it.”

“You’ve been outside for ten minutes. I’m allowed to be cautious.”

“That sounds suspiciously like permission you gave yourself.”

I glance through the visor and find her smiling. “I’m learning.”

The answer quiets her teasing. She studies me for a moment before turning back toward the trench.

“This is what I wanted, Sigurd. Not the suit specifically.” Her steps slow as the ground slopes beneath us. “I wanted you to stop shutting me out because you’d already decided what I could handle.”

I look ahead while I consider the safest answer and realize there isn’t one. “You shouldn’t have had to come down here to make me understand that.”

Valerie doesn’t press further. She simply keeps walking beside me.

The seabed breaks into uneven shelves farther ahead. A narrow fissure runs between them, with enough moving water below to make the footing unpleasant even for me.

I stop before the first ledge. “The next section is rougher. I’m going to tether you until we’re across.”

Valerie studies the gap, then shifts her feet into a more stable position. “Tell me where to step.”

I let one tentacle uncoil from beneath my jacket and guide it around her waist. The sensitive underside settles against the reinforced suit instead of warm skin, but I still feel every adjustment she makes inside the armor.

I keep my grip firm enough to steady her and lead her onto the first shelf.

“Left foot near mine. There’s a flatter section just ahead of you.”

She follows the instruction, waits for the boot to settle, then brings the other foot across. The next ledge is narrower, and I tighten the tentacle around her as the water pushes through the fissure below us.

Valerie glances down at the limb around her waist. “You can hold me tighter if you need to. I’m not going to complain.”

The words send a far less practical reaction through me than the situation deserves. I guide her across the remaining shelf without answering something I’ll regret.