I guess he does have to save Simon because he's one of the six, but it's still an example of him showing how valuable their lives are.

Also, I thought at least - that even the Old Ones can't pull everything off perfectly. It gave me this feeling, like maybe too much was happening at once, and Merriman had to make a (relatively speaking) hard, fast choice as to which set of kids needed him more.

And I keep wondering about parts of the war that we don't see, that makes it a lot like the final battle at the end - all this noise and fury but no real details. What is going on, that takes all this work from all the Circle of the Old Ones?