"I don't really know where here is," Verin says, shaking his head. Now that he's swept Essek in his hug, and Essek hugged him back, he sets him back--well, not on the ground, but back at least. He keeps his hands on his brother's arms, like he can't imagine this is real.

He has no reason to, after all. Whatever is going on here, certainly Essek would not be there.

From his belt, he pulls the scroll they gave him. Essek doesn't need to look at it to know what some of the sins enumerated are--things that have no right to be on there, and things that only the two of them know of. Others, only Verin knows. In any case, it's just to show that he has the object, before tucking it back into his belt.

"It's all some illusion, isn't it? A rouse. Some...trick of the Empire, or the Abyss. I could believe either, at this point."