Chapter 43: Monster, Part 3

But then he remembered his parents' funeral, his sister's body, having to bury her alongside them. The way so many could no longer bear to look him in the eye. When he recalled all that, thoughts of the sea turned his stomach.

"You do not think of the Heart as home," Sule said.

"No," Cemal agreed. "I love the Heart, but it was never home to me, not the way the Isles were." He doubted he would ever find home again. The priesthood was good enough, though. He did miss the… order, he supposed, that came with a pious life.

Sule snorted. "Pious, indeed, said the priest with a sense of humor ribald enough to keep pace with our fool. Come, we should return to Binhadi. Mahzan, when will you be able to rejoin us?

Soon, I think, Mahzan replied. They're not interested in me.