The moment Spook explained the epidemic that had apparently spread to these felidrakes, Lily's let loose a long-suffering sigh. For just a moment, she sagged, her head bowing between her shoulders—and then she was standing and brushing off her hands, fast enough the moment of exhaustion might have just been a trick of the light, shoulders back and chin high. 

[color=DDA0DD]"Thank you, Spook,"[/color] she said pleasantly, turning away with one last glance at the innocently grassy earth where the magic circle had lain just moments before. She planted her hands on her hips, nodding to the Traveller. [color=DDA0DD]"It is quite nice to know what's going on, for once. However, it's also nice to give the little critters a chance, no?"[/color] Personally, once the full scope of the problem was revealed, Lily was more willing to listen to Spook, as long as he had a good reason—the felidrakes were cute, but a handful of beasts was nothing compared to cities full of fathers and daughters and aunts and grandmothers.

Lily moved briskly to grab her pack from where she'd set it when Spook called for volunteers at the circle, resettling it on her shoulders and giving one last brush off to her knees. She was quiet—her movements signified her deferral to Spook's leadership well enough, and anyway, she didn't trust herself to speak further for now.

If the surrounding cities had been wiped out by disease, what had happened to her sisters?