The casual way in which Nooj describes picking off the errant Maester shows that he is not as calm and docile as he sometimes appears now with all of his team around him.
I also thought it was very sweet that Nooj had measured Paine's neck by kisses.
Baralai's denial that the weapon will actually be used by Yevon seems to be in character. He still wants to believe the best of them at times.
And Nooj is being silly to think that Baralai and Gippal don't understand his feelings about death when he doesn't explain them to anyone. I found that at the end he was behaving a bit like a petulant child. That isn't a criticism. It seems to me that there is a bit of the petulant child in all of us, even Nooj, although he'd deny it strenuously if you confronted him about it.
Author\'s Response: I am always delighted to hear your take on the latest development. No, Nooj is not - au fond - susceptible to being tamed. He will be himself though the heavens fall. However, he is a bit of a petulant child. Most self-absorbed type A men I have known are. He fully expects everyone to understand his reasoning and cannot understand when they don't. I have to confess it seems perfectly obvious to me than a Deathseeker would not be overjoyed at the advent of a more peaceful world.