A hulking figure of mottled basalt and river-polished granite, its plates etched with the faint, worn sigils of long-vanished smiths. Moss has taken root in the creases of its joints but is trimmed away in neat crescents where hands have often rested. One pauldron bears a deliberate gouge like a sunburst; beneath the stone, bronze filigree glints when it moves. Its gait is measured and inexorably steady, like a slow tide. Contradiction: when relaxed it collects dust and sits utterly statue-still like a cairn; when defending it moves with a dancer's balletic timing.