I like the vibe between these two here: their love is still new enough that even in Syr’Nj’s current state, she can muster a brief smile. Other than that, she’s all business, just as she was in her last few statements to E-Merl and Gravedust before she left them. And since Syr’Nj is usually all business in battle, Byron doesn’t even know something else is wrong until it’s too late.

Treating life as “a series of tasks that need doing” isn’t a bad coping mechanism, necessarily. It’s largely how my wife got through it when we lost her dad, a few years back. But the most demanding tasks require an unobstructed mind, which Syr does not have right now.

But at least she had enough presence of mind to (presumably) go back to Naror’Nj’s house and pick up the axes before running the shark gauntlet. Nice use of her bag of holding.