"Very missed, perhaps, in the grand scheme of it all. However, you would be missed, by at least five individuals I can recall, through observation." He does not mention the five he thinks of, but at least one should be obvious.

The pat to his knee is rather surprising for Mortimer, who raises his eyebrows with interest, but says nothing more on the subject.

"Tower, too, cannot win. Cataclysm on that scale would leave many dead, I can assure you of that. I would prefer victory myself, because only I can ensure that this never happens again... but I'm not getting my hopes up."