"It was," he agrees quietly. And there he falls mute, shaking, crying silently into his friend's shirt. All he had wanted was a return to those peaceful, idyllic times.

It doesn't take as long this time for him to pull himself together. He clutches Hythlodaeus a little more securely, curling up.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. "I'm sorry. Whatever choice I make here, I condemn a world. Forgive me for this selfish desire to see you live, 'Daeus..."