We spend most of our time carrying trivial cargoes for trivial reasons to trivial people. - Vonda N. McIntyre

He must have been rebuffed and denigrated all his life, to be so afraid of touching another human being.

"I didn't watch her carefully enough."
"What could you have done? Remember her life, not her death. She was brave and happy and arrogant, the way a child should be. You could only protect her more by chaining her to you with fear. She couldn't live that way, not and remain the person you loved."

He moved inside the temple to perform his duties. They were few, and empty tradition. The god had departed, long before its last, ridiculed worshippers, as gods always do. The keeper knew that, and allowed himself no illusions about his status.