[ Bastien hums and stretches out on the floor, head resting on Byerly's shin, half-fencing Whiskey in with the rest of him. ]
Well, that's—
[ Depressing. ]
I don't think that is true for everyone and everything. It's about how much power we have, isn't it? The Empress can make decisions the world won't undo. I could have, [ with some reluctance, because he doesn't enjoy marinating in guilt the way some people might, ] saved one of them. Really saved them. But it would have been the last contract I ever had. Someone else would have been hired for the rest of them.
[ Not everyone dies; Bastien has an open mind about the existence of the Maker, in the sense that it hardly seems relevant to him either way. Maybe the Wardens will end the Blights after all at some point, or they'll run out of Archdemons.
But that isn't the point. ]
It still matters, what happens in the meantime. [ He says it with some reluctance, looking at Whiskey's dewclaw. They agreed on as much, when they were drunk in the rain, and it was about Byerly's good deeds being important even if they didn't fix the world for good. But it's different, when it's about whether Bastien's bad ones meant anything, because—
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Well, that's—
[ Depressing. ]
I don't think that is true for everyone and everything. It's about how much power we have, isn't it? The Empress can make decisions the world won't undo. I could have, [ with some reluctance, because he doesn't enjoy marinating in guilt the way some people might, ] saved one of them. Really saved them. But it would have been the last contract I ever had. Someone else would have been hired for the rest of them.
no subject
But in the long term, the next Blight will still come. In time, the Maker will return. In time, everyone will die.
[ Not something he necessarily believes - that anything doesn't matter, just because there are some inevitabilities. But for argument's sake. ]
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[ Not everyone dies; Bastien has an open mind about the existence of the Maker, in the sense that it hardly seems relevant to him either way. Maybe the Wardens will end the Blights after all at some point, or they'll run out of Archdemons.
But that isn't the point. ]
It still matters, what happens in the meantime. [ He says it with some reluctance, looking at Whiskey's dewclaw. They agreed on as much, when they were drunk in the rain, and it was about Byerly's good deeds being important even if they didn't fix the world for good. But it's different, when it's about whether Bastien's bad ones meant anything, because—
Because it makes him feel shitty. That's why. ]