“Alright then. You’re self absorbed and you feel sorry for yourself more than anyone ever should despite most of the Agency being in the same boat as you. Stubborn, rash, desensitized, and stuck up half of the time. To be honest, I have a hard time believing that you have run the Agency for as long as you have without burning it to the ground. Also, you are an emotional time bomb from the fact that you bottle everything up and put it on other people '' Compton said without any hesitation.

“That was a bit harsh.” I said as I watched Mordred stiffen up her upper lip and nod her head before turning to me. I think that may have hurt her more than the punch to the jaw.

“Though I wasn’t done.” Compton said. “I also have a lot of respect for you as you always seem to do what you think is best. You may bottle things up but you do it to try to prevent others from pitying you and from seeing how much you’re dealing with. You care about people and trust most people which causes you to break down when those people do betray you. To be honest, I would like it if you would just open up to us.”

Mordred stood there as if she too was about to blow up like Elysif did a moment ago. However, instead she gave him a hug. I kind of felt like a third wheel but if I was a third wheel then what was Iscarat’s corpse. The fact that all this tension and emotions were being spilled out right next to a dead friend was disturbing to me.

“I know you two are having a moment and all but what do we do with Iscarat’s body?” I asked.

“See if my father will give him a proper burial among the other soldiers. That is if Compton and Elysif are okay with it.” Mordred said.

“I have no problems with it. Just ask Elysif if she’s alright with it.” Compton said.

Since it seemed like they wanted me to talk to her about it I just went along with it. Despite knowing that it would probably end badly for me I went over to Iscarat’s door and went inside. The inside of it was as it was before. A small room with a cot-like bed and a desk. On opposite sides of the room were open corridors that led to various different rooms. How a single man could use up so much space was strange to me but every room was different and full of random things.

Looking around I didn’t see any sign of Elysif. That is, until I went into his study. She was standing above a large ornate rolling top desk and resting perfectly in the center of it was a large document. Elysif was reading it intently without touching it as if it was a sacred object.

“You okay?” I asked from the doorway. She turned to look at me as if she was in a trance before and had just broken free of it.

“I don’t know. He got on my nerves so much, yet I feel as if I’ve lost someone I can never replace.” she said as if her emotions were far too distant for her to understand them. I know she couldn’t tell but I felt the same.

“He is impossible to replace. The best we can do is honor his memory. Would you like him to be buried among the soldiers here?” I asked.

“That would be good. He never cared much for religious practices so I don’t think he’ll mind.” she said.

“Alright. Then I’ll leave you be while I take care of the body.” I said. Though, before I could she grabbed my hand. Turning back to face her I could see the tear stains on her cheeks.

“I… Well… Thank you. I know you aren’t exactly in control right now and I keep wanting to blame you for all these problems but I know it’s not your fault. If you don’t mind though… would you, well… keep dealing with my awful attitude?” she asked.

“Of course.” I said before she let go of my hand and I started out the door again.

“Wait!” she exclaimed.

“I was just reading this. It’s a note for you from Iscarat.” she said.

“If it was addressed to me then why did you read it?”

“It was an open letter with the words READ ME at the top.” she said with a tone that was basically a what did you expect me to do moment.

She handed me the paper through the doorway very forcefully and with a bit of a temper behind it. Ignoring her otherwise bad temper despite what we were just talking about I began reading the letter. It read:

Dear Lou,

I don’t know when you’ll be reading this or if you ever will for that matter. Though I have a certain level of belief that you will. To make it short I have made a list of every time the Masked Man has appeared to harass the Agency. You’ll probably still go to all these time periods for one reason or another but I figured I could make it easier. Even if you don’t have a reason to do so it would make my day if you used some of these times to be an utter annoyance to both Merlin and Mordred.

I would also like to explain that your sword can help me make amends. Although, I have no idea what the future holds, I would like for you to hit Scott’s runes with it. Your sword can eat magic as if it was energy or sunlight but it can also nullify runes. Doing so will release him from the runes curse far more easily than I ever could. Consider this the dying wish of an old sorcerer who failed.

Despite already giving you two requests I would like to ask one more. Please take care of everyone. They are all precious to me.

With care,

Iscarat Put