Ossanlin smiles a bit and looks again at Mar. <I'm susceptible to flattery Mar.> He chuckles ruefully. <I halfway expected an offer, you being who you are, but perhaps you know me well enough to know I won't deal...or perhaps you are a true friend.> Ossanlin pauses as he thinks that through. <It's true that my life would be rather different if my attitudes were not so...open. But sometimes I wish it could be true, just because it would be an easier existence. Right now I'm nothing more than an andalite...I'm too weak at the moment to summon my other abilities. I'm away from my command, exposed. Who knows, that bounty-hunter in there might be able to destroy me as I am now. I feel weak, and part of me wants it to end.>
Ossanlin gets back to his hooves. <But I know in my depths that it won't end. I can just continue to do what I do and hope for the best...> Ossanlin takes a deep breath. <Something...deplora ble...happened on the Mirage, and I certainly share the responsibility. You might have noticed that Tamora is a single consciousness. Her Yeerk Zorish...well I was trying to negotiate. Myitt said she would perform a memory wipe and then we would send him back to the Empire. Once he exited Tamora, he was no longer able to communicate. Tara...Myitt went into the pool and Tara allowed Zorish to infest her so that he could talk. Of course after that he had a great deal of knowledge regarding the rebels. We found out that...in a strange way, Tamora and Zorish cared for each other. Zorish was, unfotunately, completely loyal. I promised that he would not be hurt, that after Tamora saw Terenia's memories, she could make her own decision and they could be together again if that's what Tamora wanted. Zorish agreed and went back into the pool. After Myitt saw all that transpired from Tara's memory...she turned her weapon on the pool.> Ossanlin shakes his head. <A cruel weapon that accelerated the kandrona depletion process...Zorish suffered starvation. I could've stopped her...if I'd used my tail to strike the weapon, he might've lived, but I didn't. I let her do it. I let her commit that atrocity...that war-crime. It's tearing her apart, I can tell...but I can't see past the fact that she took it upon herself to be judge, jury, and executioner. And that she murdered a defenseless Yeerk who had been promised sanctuary, in cold blood.> Ossanlin's main eyes move back to lock gazes with Mar. <That is what happened. It was for the best that Zorish died, but there is no excuse for that. It's the first time that I can recall ever being party to a war-crime...and seeing my most-trusted friend commit it...> Ossanlin lapses to silence.