Well, dear Lady, I humbly apologize, now. I am not the brave man I once was, if it was indeed bravery and not simple stupidity. Mocking’s been taken from my nature. Never to return, and perhaps that’s a good thing. Ah, I can see you nod most wholeheartedly at that. Mortals should not mock, for all the obvious reasons. Detachment belongs to gods, because only they can afford its price. So be it.

Thank you, Lady Envy. No recriminations will pursue you. It was well run.

‘You should have seen Coral in its day, Malazan.’

‘It was your home, wasn’t it?’

‘Aye. Though my home now is in the heart of my Seer.’

‘Where the winds are even colder,’ Toc muttered.

The Seerdomin was silent for a moment.

Toc was expecting a blow from a gauntleted fist, or a painful wrench from the hand gripping his frail arm. Either one would have been an appropriate response; either one would have elicited an approving nod from the Seer. Instead, the man said, ‘This is a summer day, but not like the summer days I remember in my youth. Coral’s wind was warm. Soft, caressing as a lover’s breath. My father, he fished out beyond the cut. Up along the coast north of here. Vast, rich shoals. He’d be gone for a week or more with every season’s run. We’d all go down to the causeway to watch the fleets return, to see our father’s orange sail among the barques.’

Toc glanced up at the man, saw the smile, the glimmering echo of a child’s joy in his eyes.

Saw them die once more.

‘He came back the last time ... to find that his family had embraced the Faith. His wife, to the Tenescowri. His sons, to the ranks, eldest begun schooling as Seerdomin. He did not throw his lines to me on that day – seeing my uniform. Seeing my mother – hearing her mindless shrieks. Seeing my brothers with spears in hand, my sisters naked and clinging to men thrice their age. No, he swung the boom, tacked onto the offshore breeze.

‘I watched his sail until I could see it no more. It was my way, Malazan—’

‘Of saying goodbye,’ Toc whispered.

‘Of saying good luck. Of saying ... well done.’

Destroyer of lives. Seer, how could you have done this to your people?

A distant bell rang in the palace behind them.

The Seerdomin’s grip tightened. ‘The allotted time is done.’

‘Back to my own embrace,’ Toc said, his gaze straining to catch, one last time, the world before him. Remember this, for you will not see it again, Toc the Younger.

‘Thank you for the use of your cloak,’ he said.

‘You are welcome, Malazan. These winds were once warm. Come, lean on me while we walk – your weight is as nothing.’

They slowly made their way towards the building. ‘Easily borne, you mean.’