Hearing Hythlodaeus break down is heartbreaking. He holds his friend and lover more tightly, biting his lip. He has not gotten much better at offering comfort over the years though he knows the motions.

"I don't know," he says numbly. "I don't know..."

'It's unfair!' everyone cries at him when it is their turn to go. 'Unfair?' he wants to scream back at them. Unfair? Theirs was the first people. Theirs had been as close to an idyllic paradise as one could achieve. Did the mortal races not long for peace? For harmony? For mutual understanding and cooperation? Their people had all that and it had been taken away.

What god or gods had they offended to deserve their fate?

"...I don't want to die," he whispers, tears welling once more in his eyes.