Ludwig stopped beneath the thick canopy, the living forest pressing in with damp smells and soft insect noise that still felt strange after the hut's collapse.
"That is a request of all requests… Why are you so interested now?"
The lantern's glow was muted in daylight, yet its presence hung close at his side like a shadow with weight.
He held it slightly away from himself as if distance could make the words less irritating, brow drawn tight as his mind tried to decide whether this was audacity or an ambush.
"I'll prove more… valuable to you than merely being here, in this lantern."
The voice from within carried that peculiar hollow resonance, like sound traveling through bone instead of air.
