The arm around Ver's shoulder absolutely shatters the young priest. He leans into his friend's embrace, weeping openly in dry hiccuping sobs. Tuo's utter kindness to an awful sinner like him is almost unbearable; here, Ver had put them all at risk of the gods' wrath and Tuo has still made space and comfort for him in his last hours.

If the punishment for unrepentant Profane must be death, this is at least a kinder way to do it.

"I'm s-sorry, Tuo, I'm so--I'm so, so sorry," he manages, between sobs. "Everyone could have been hurt b-because of me, you could have frozen..."

Easy to perceive now the gods' hand in the storms that had wracked the town--to say nothing of the griffon. Woe always followed the Profane.