Normally, Nahad would have fled from the naga in fear. Yet he had made up his mind to uphold justice, and once he decided he was morally obligated to do something, very little could talk him out of it. He was trying to defend someone besides himself, and this converted his fear of impending death into a smoldering fury.<br/>The lungfish suddenly heard sound coming from the room once more. Whining. Growling. The wolfish creature, then, must have been alive--or dying. If he could hear it, surely Alger could too.<br/><br/>"Did I say I'd attack Yashoku? Did I?" He swung the cane once, without aiming to hit anything. "I just want to know what the hell's going on! I'm trying to help a fellow student who, for all I know, is already mortally wounded! I don't care if Yashoku, whom you barely know, is your friend. If he's a murderer, he must be exposed before he kills everyone else!" He shook with anger. Why couldn't the naga understand? Why was the naga condoning, even encouraging evil? The fish's prejudice against the serpentine races now seemed more justified and accurate to him than ever.