—right, that nervousness was entirely warranted, then. Alistair looks at her for a moment, pity scrawled across his face; he's not good at masking that sort of emotion except by joking, and this isn't something to joke about. When he realizes, he ducks his head to focus on buckling his boots. It all right if he looks at his own feet like someone's died. His feet don't care.

"He's here," he says after that pause. "We brought him back with us. But he's not—it isn't good, Bethany."