Lately, things had not been going well for the mother—if only “going poorly” could be said when there were one failure after another. Unfortunately, centuries of unlimited power of the ezodos had taken their toll. They had relaxed and lost their former might, and now they had to pay for it with enormous losses. The main trouble, however, was that there were no competent commanders. It seemed that one of her commanders, Talaz, had proven himself to be a capable commander-in-chief—but only against the inhabitants of the seas and oceans; against people, he could do nothing.