Once more the richness of your description of setting staggers me. It is actually less a description of setting than the effects of setting on individuals. The tricks about conserving urine and sucking on rocks, all of these small details make one feel what it is to be there in the desert.
I almost felt Nooj's attempt at death was a bit contrived, howver. I suppose you explained it by pointing out that Deathseekers seek an honourable death, but I don't see how continuing to fight against that fiend would have been dishonourable and Nooj's attitude had been changing so much - he'd been feeling real pride about his small group. Perhaps the desert contributed to his renewed hope for death. I think it is actually a fundamental problem with the idea of a Deathseeker.
I am excited to see what the cnfrontations with the other groups will bring.
Author's response
I would have handled the attempt with more grace. Alas, I am trying this time to remain fairly canonical and Square devised this action and, since it was so central an event, I felt I had no option other than to use their version. I tried thinking of him as bi-polar at this point in the journey. He knows he must die and is hunting the place, so that when he sees an opportunity, all other considerations - like his affair with Paine and his pride in his team - go out of his head and he is left with the sole intent to die. Sorry, it was the best solution I could think of at the time. I am sure many others would have handled it better.
Luc Court and I once discussed the difficulty of motivating and writing a Deathseeker who does not make a straight forward run at extinction. We ended up agreeing it was just one of those tangled knots which make writing this character so endlessly fascinating. LOL