"But, as you said, it is still possible for you to slip," Anton pointed out. "It cannot be truly conquered, in that case, and even still the perception that it can be conquered opens you to disappointment." He would have shaken his head, but the precursor to doing so jarred his back and he thought better of it. "I have found that acceptance is a more powerful position--though perhaps that is not the same for you. Ours magics may be too different."

Anton mulled over her words and nodded once, and slowly. "The enemy seems to revel in darkness ... chaos. Anything broken would serve him. Possibly emotions more than most. It would explain why he sought to taint and poison so many, given what powerful persons are here. Yet it seems odd ..."

He murmured the last, gazing out past the turtle's head. "It seems odd that, if Evandau were tainted, he would work on such a minuscule scale, one by one, instead of in a greater whole."