The chasm between minds and hearts

Petitioner. The voice of the Seventh Coil fills the too-small vessel of your mind, focused for the first time on you alone. Have you come to kneel? It is knowing, rather than hearing. To love? The roar of a waterfall. The whisper of a promise. To don fur and scale and become us?

The Tiger Keeper's lambent eyes land upon you, and does not give you the opportunity to answer. The bliss on his face evaporates as recognition dawns, and then he is all snarl, muscles bunching, moving from the throne in a fluid movement. "No—"

The Seventh Coil is in your head. The Tiger Keeper leaps, mid-air. The Weeping Mercenary pulls you down to the floor, jolting your elbows and knees – and the sounder skitters from your hand, button released.