The next day, I spoke with Katharos again when he had some free time. 

The wind was picking up again, stirring up the miasma in the town; rain might be on its way. 

He didn’t have much to say, and he seemed depressed and distant. I wasn’t good with expressions, but even I could tell something was wrong. “Are you okay, Katharos?”

“According to my messenger, hundreds of people have died in Ga over the past month.” He sighed. “Is this your brother's doing? There’s been a severe, unexplainable increase in homicide and accidents.” He paused, probably going over some of the more horrific cases in his mind. "I need to cut my vacation short and go home…”

Death was openly killing Katharos’ people in droves. 

I looked up at the sky, envisioning the clouds my brother and I had shared in the past. The long talks and mutual respect we used to have for each other was just an echo now, and he seemed to live to make me suffer. First he banished me, then he threatened both me and Heidi’s village through the Maheshan boy, Nikolai, and finally, he was killing the people of my most loyal worshipper, Katharos.

I turned back to Katharos. “Where do the Mahesha live?”

Katharos gave me a look like I was crazy. “I know you’re a God Joshua, but if you’re thinking of going there, don’t. The Mahesha are a hateful species, especially to outsiders.”

“I’m merely curious.”

He seemed incredulous, but he answered. “They live many miles due north of here, underground.”

The Mahesha’s eyes were sensitive to light, which is why Nikolai had visited me during the night. If my brother was baiting me to confront him like I thought he might be, I knew he would be waiting for me the underground city of the Mahesha, with his mortal woman, Hephzibah.

Katharos hugged his thin bird legs and leaning his cheek against his four-finger claw, going back to the previous subject. “This is my fault… all these people killing themselves. I must not be doing my job correctly. That's why your brother is punishing me.”

I frowned, my stomach churning with alien emotions. “Don’t blame yourself, Katharos. You do your job better than anyone I’ve ever seen. I’m proud of you… my brother is only doing what he is doing because of his disdain for me, not you. I saw how you saved that girl’s life—how you lost that finger. Nobody could say that you're not a good king.”

I was referring to a time, two years ago when Katharos was diffusing a fight in the streets of Ga between a Maheshan woman who immigrated and one of his own people—a rather large man—the fight had quickly escalated. The man, attacked the woman with a knife, but Katharos stepped between the two and put up his palms to protect her. The attacker had slowed his attack just enough to cut off one of Katharos' fingers. 

“I don’t make things worse, but I can’t seem to make them better…” he sighed.

“It’s not your fault,” I repeated. “It’s everyone else’s.”

Katharos looked at me searchingly for a moment, recalling that I’d said mortals displeased me except for him and Heidi. “There are good people on this world, Joshua. You will see.”

I wanted to believe him, to say I knew there were plenty of good people in the world… but I couldn’t. From up on my cloud I’d seen seven acts of evil for every one act of good. I couldn’t find it in my graceless heart to forgive. Even though his acts of good were undone so readily by the evil acts of others, they were a spark of light that needed to be protected from the darkness.