"No, it isn't." Sid agreed about their loss not being a trivial thing. They had been abandoned and damaged long before, and losing Ziad was like tearing open the wound and letting the vultures gorge.
"Believe me, we're not thrilled. I mean, I- sorry." Sid looked up. "You're just ... [i]different[/i]." Sid's dark eyes penetrated Kire for a moment. "She was grace, and smiles, and gave off this aura that beckoned you. It made it easy. He brought her in, but we all smiled back at her. But you..." Sid pursed her lips. "You look like we feel. That you've been beaten and battered but you won't stay down. You look as distrustful underneath as we feel. Which ... oddly, makes it easier to accept you."

She shook her head, looking back down. "Its hard to describe. Just. We all feel like you belong because you're wounded."

Upon return, Kire found not Ruli, but Envy, who was circling in the main chamber with a few of the small kids, playing a game of capture the rag. They kept silent, trying to sneak up and steal the rag he held, but with his elven hearing and his blindness, it was easy for him to hear their approach. Not to mention the fact that the cave amplifies their footsteps. 

Ysaryn sat on the edge on her reed mat, bent in a stretch to keep herself limber. Seeing Kire enter, she grinned and winked. "Hello Kirai."
"Kire?" Envy spun slowly to face her direction, coincidentally pulling the rag out of the grasp of a five year old, who laughed. "I wondered where you'd gone off to. I have something for you. From Ruli." He grinned, and Ysaryn chuckled as she bent into a lunge.