Hythlodaeus pauses. He wonders how he must have felt - will feel? - when he chose to sacrifice himself. Was he hoping to protect Hades and Azem, to be of some final use to his friends when there was naught else he could do? Did he give in to that despair of helplessness? If Azem left to seek some other solution, surely he would have gone with them too?..

"Thank you, Hades," he replies softly. "And I am sorry that I abandoned you. Mayhap if all three of us had gone together with Azem..."