The mystics’ reactions to this apostasy vary on this page and the last. Only Cliff is the voice of furious condemnation. Snowpeak and Stonecutter, though, are somewhat receptive. Ember is more concerned for Gravedust than anything else, concerned that sentiment is leading him to make a rash decision.

She is, perhaps, half right. In later chapters, Gravedust will be far less condemning of mysticism than he seems to be here. He will wonder whether it will have a new day, and eventually be pleased to see that it will.

But this is his own departure from the mystic’s path. And with the machinery of the afterlife restored and Gravedust now deaf to them, the other four mystics really have nothing to keep them around on this side of Skryber Pass. Mystics’ time may not be truly over, but theirs is.