jude has always been the voice of caution , but in the end , out of loyalty , he has done things more rash than blaise ; and blaise has always been the one who should have listened but did not , and yet his instincts and his luck have been more effectual than reason ; and now both are here , at blaise 's tilting farmhouse , both of them out of middle age and free and assessing the mess of their lives and the end of the world in the early 21st century .