Everything Best says here is sincere. Every word. OF course, not meaning to make others insignificant doesn’t necessarily make it okay when you do… but hey, he’s trying. He’s even stopped calling his “allies” his “backups,” which means something coming from him.

Obviously there’s no chance Best would stay this harmonious with the rest of the group indefinitely, but the rest of the group isn’t this harmonious with the rest of the group either [sounds of Frigg punching Byron in the background]. Any relationship is going to have peaks and valleys: this is a peak.

How low would the valleys have gotten if Best had gotten what he wanted from the basin? Had it shown him standing next to the others as they defeated an angry god, I think he’d be a lot easier to deal with in the short term. But that toxic ego of his would bubble back up in some form sooner or later– maybe he’d drive away Bandit’s team, which would leave them crucially underpowered in the Battle of B’ial Vezk. He has harder lessons to learn if he’s going to end up as the b– the greatest version of himself.