VIII. Naturalism — The Ezra Six

In the aftermath of Ezra Fowler’s death, Sef Hassan meets with the remaining members of Fowler’s team, a group he already distrusts: a Chinese intelligence medeian, a Wessex aristocrat, and CIA director Pérez. Nothazai draws Sef aside, promising a better-aligned faction for their values and dismissing the others as power-seekers.

As Sef listens, he catches the Oxbridge cadence in Nothazai’s voice, recognizing a cultivated mask and concluding that Nothazai intends to abandon the group. Sef outwardly agrees to maintain appearances while internally rejecting blind allegiance and reasserting his survivalist pragmatism.

Reflecting on Pérez’s role in Nasser Aslani’s death and on his own discomfort with the coalition’s motives, Sef decides not to follow Nothazai. He weighs power against promise, concluding that power neither redeems nor preserves, and that knowledge should belong to those who will steward it responsibly.

Nothazai departs with a cordial smile, and Sef returns the gesture, fully expecting never to hear from him again. The scene closes with Sef’s conviction that the archives will ultimately recognize their rightful custodian—and that it will not be someone worse than himself.