"Father, you one served the House of Dusk alongside Phyzann, the Drowned Captain, did you not?" Eido kept her tone casual.

"His reputation was known by all," Mithrax replied cautiously.

"The odes say he was a ferocious warrior," Eido prompted, "who killed many Cabal. They speak of his bravery."

Mithrax fidgeted silently with the regulator on his Ether rebreather.

"Was it not so?" she insisted.

"Phyzann was incompetent," Mithrax grumbled. "He once blew a hole in the side of his own Ketch attempting the Rite of Six Hands with a live grenade. He was a buffoon."

"Yet the odes—"

"Odes are for hatchlings!" Mithrax replied, more forcefully than intended. "They make glory of desperation, and bravery of ignorance."

"As a Scribe," he continued more calmly, "you must learn to see the truth in such wishful thoughts."