It would have been so easy to sink into his despair and allow myself to retreat. Or, perhaps, call for Henemordonin and lean on him, ask him to forgive me for thinking I could ever have filled this position when I really had no idea what I was doing or how to combat this threat to my people.

"Surely, it's not so bad," I said.

"If only that were true," Jabut said. "Ram and I traveled to many of the outlying planes, only to find them empty, their farms deserted, towns ...