zg_shadows | Contemplation

Dear Sir,
I write to express my condolences...

Mark screwed up the paper and threw it in the bin, where it joined the last dozen attempts. How could he offer empty platitudes when, when it came down to it, it was his fault they were dead.

They were dead because he'd tried to make the city a better place, and involved mortals in doing so. It would be so easy to follow Seraph's example and be a "super hero", almost no ties, just fighting the forces of evil. But Mark had believed, and still did, that to truly make a difference, it would be necessary to influence the city, and eventually the world, by means of the institutions that existed. But perhaps Mark was the wrong person to do it. Too noticeable, to easy to target.

And so now 20 people were dead because of him. Because he could not back away from those who stood against Ma'at. And yet, what else could he do?

And so it was time to examine whether he was now causing more harm by being here than not. The rest of the Amenti here didn't really need him any more. They had better warriors, better healers, better investigators. Many had made great strides in understanding Ma'at in the time that he had known them. They could do well without him there.

And so again, it came down to those in the wider world outside the Amenti that he called friend. And yet he sensed that Michael also was as weary as he was. Seraph was, well, Seraph. Tolly was, as ever, confusing. Rissa would be fine- that was, he thought, one of her stock in trades- it would be nice to think she'd miss him, but then she would still have Tim.

Mark would never abandon the fight. But perhaps it was time it was taken elsewhere, if he was causing more harm than good....

He looked at the tickets in his hand- their destination: Cairo. And they were not return tickets...