But John is drowning, I must decide

Does he care?

The question vipes at him in a sickeningly rat-like voice; it seems the first time he's heard his own aloud, within his brain.

Doesn't he care if Dunban dies? Is he really that detatched from it all? From their...history?

"See ya, boys!" he'd said, indicating a measure of confidence possessed that he would, in fact, see them alive in advance of the funerals.

Wanted to.

And if Dunban didn't? If Mumkhar emerged from their messy, tattered relationship spurned but finally, finally, the victor?

Deserved it, didn't he? Not as if his help would have changed anything.