"Heartless"- urSu
The word sticks with him, many trine after it is thrown at him by a furious, near-begging Skeksis. He would think little of anything said by their crueler halves, but urGoh had not disputed it, instead simply meeting his eyes in silent, sad resignation.
They had left the next day- the last time urSu would see them. He had grieved, as he grieved any loss among their own, but had considered his choice the right one.
Now, with a tiny creature curled into his mane like a blanket, he isn’t so certain.
He still doesn’t know what compelled him to step in, but it is the first time he truly sees what they have allowed this world to come to. And when he picks the child up, he feels the pricklings of something new in his chest. Protectiveness, tenderness. Another word, perhaps, that he had also ignored when urGoh spoke it so long ago. Can they truly call themselves benevolent or compassionate without this? If they merely do no harm, detached and dispassionate, but also do nothing in the face of harm?
For the first time, he understands that they cannot.
He only regrets that he realized it too late.