But what mechanism is making sure they care? Is it picking the right people for magic, or picking the right magic people to be Heralds, or - changing them somehow after?

Sayshen's head swings around to look at her again, her mane swishing. The expression in her eyes is startled and piercing. 

:I don't–: She stops, shuffles her hooves, bends and nips at some more clover and lifts her head. :I don't think - it's ever - just one - of those things: The words come out slowly, as though forcing their way upstream against some current. :We Choose people who can become good Heralds. We - help them grow: 

It keeps seeming like it's hard for you to talk to me.

:What? You keep asking hard questions. I've never had to explain it to an outsider before: 

In my world I had a reputation for being good at explaining human or just local culture to people from others. And I observed what it was like when people were bad at it. I don't think you're bad at it. I think something else is going on.

Sayshen keeps looking at her, polite and attentive, but doesn't say anything. 

How do Companions all just happen to be so dedicated to the same - ethos, the same project?

Flat look. :That is literally what we're for. I've - been telling you that - this whole time: 

If I had a kid, I could try to raise them for a specific purpose, and if I were good at it and the purpose was appealing enough, this would usually work. But I couldn't guarantee it. What about you makes it work every time?

...That one takes Sayshen some serious thinking before she answers. She doesn't look uncomfortable in quite the same way, though – there's curiosity there as well.

:We don't grow into the people we are over time, quite the way human children do: she sends finally. :We're born, but - not as babies that way, you know? I could already Mindspeak as a newborn foal. I - knew that I was a Companion, and what that meant: A mental chuckle. :I still had a lot of growing up to do, of course. We're not - ready to Choose, yet, when we're little. But we always know that's - what we're growing toward: 

There are ways to use magic from my world to make people who start with knowledge and skills, called golems. They usually do what their creators had in mind. But not every time.

:Huh: is all Sayshen says in response.

So when you're made, what's making it turn out right, every time?

Or is it not always necessarily, could a Companion ever go wrong somehow?

:We're - not entirely like humans: Sayshen admits. :The part of us that is, well, we're...always the sort of people who - if there was a sacred mission - we would take it. Wouldn't walk away. And the rest, the bond, and - the part that knows what we are - is meant as - scaffolding, sort of. To - make it easier - to carry that burden: 

She shakes her head. :Not all Companions Choose. But I - never heard of one - who didn't stay to help: 

So there's some sort of personality creation mechanism that gets it right every time - always makes you the sort of person who would decide "yes, I'd like to be born a Companion foal and do all that"? You'd have picked this if you were picking, the gods just - found or made you that way?

Sayshen's entire body goes rigid. She doesn't answer. Thirty seconds pass in awkward silence. 

:Why: she sends finally, picking the words out slowly and carefully, :is the answer to that question so important to you?: 

Uh, if you'd rather not talk about this any more I can try someone else?

Sayshen's blue eyes fix on her. 

:No: she sends, almost absently. :You'd best not. I don't think it's likely to go better: 

Nothing about her body language indicates that she wants Bella to go away, though. She seems...very focused. 

"Yeah, I was afraid of that," Bella mutters in an undertone.

Sayshen is still staring at her. 

If it's hard to form sentences, says Bella, then if you do still want to help me, you could let me read you?

:That might simplify things: Sayshen doesn't drop her shields, but she does part them wider, so that Bella can step in if she wants. 

Bella takes a deep breath, and she looks.

Sayshen's surface thoughts feel subtly different from a human's, even before she catches the really weird part. 

She asked if I'd have picked this if it were up to me. 

If I were choosing I w

The gods made me to be a Companion. Companions want to be what they are.

But if someone asked before, then I

Something makes us the sort of people who would decide to take on this weight

But I th

Why di

Whose decision w

Wh

...

Sayshen seems to pull back from her own thoughts, focusing on the grass and sky for a moment, then carefully leans back toward the question; there's something that gently bends her thoughts away like a breeze flattening grass, but the driving importance that she has to answer the question because it matters is enough to, if not stare at it head-on, at least drive sideways toward it, like a sailboat tacking against the wind.

Any Companion would choose this life a thousand times over, and I am one. 

but imagine someone else 

imagine someone like me but who isn't me - who knows everything I do

who isn't a Companion yet 

if they were asked

if they were picking

would they

The NO isn't quite in words but it doesn't have to be. It's plenty clear. 

Thank you for showing me.

There's something - that isn't quite yours, in here, I think? Do you think it would be safe for me to poke it?