Kire cocked her head as she nursed her cup of coffee. [i]Was she expecting me to say something else?[/i] But she kept the question to herself, listening to Sid’s reply. She saw the tears threatening to fall from Sid’s face as she recounted how Ruli trusting Akuma had led to them losing everything they had held dear in Ziad. Given the pieces of information she had learned from Ruli, Envy, and Zeke, the heavy darkness that followed them around, it made sense. She nodded when Sid talked about the difficulty of leaving things in the past. “I never really believed in ‘forgive and forget’. It’s understandable. What you lost isn’t a trivial thing.” She paused for a while, drinking the rest of her cup, then shrugged a shoulder as she spoke again. “Makes it all the more surprising, honestly, that you’d let me in here after he brought me. I would’ve shot me on sight—though to be fair to him, Ruli did try, when he first saw me. I was just a hair quicker.”  

She had many other questions for Sid, mostly to do with Envy, and their life in the Tunnels. But not now, not after she had asked this heavy a question. So, she kept silent, thoughtful over a second cup of watered-down coffee. “Looks like you might need more fowl,” she said after a while, glancing around the kitchen, then standing up to clean her cup. “I was supposed to look for Ruli; he must have used the mortal and pestle for the enchantments I asked him to do. If nobody else is awake just yet, I’ll see about replenishing some of your stores first.” She put away the cup and turned to Sid. “Thank you for answering my questions.” She paused, then gestured at the bird Sid had cooked. “That’s a lot better than I ever could manage by myself.” Kire grinned for a moment before going out to hunt. 

Kire returned a while later sometime before noon, the task having woken her up much more than the rather wan brew she made that morning. After leaving the fruits of her labor in the kitchen, she went into the main cavern, hoping to spot Ruli.