It was plain enough on Ruli’s face that he didn’t want to go back. Kire didn’t blame him. She frowned when Ruli and Ysaryn pointed out the differences between their worlds, though as Ruli himself also said, if the poison and their language made it to Amria, there would be other things that might have slipped through. 

Myka shook her head. “If I had seen anything else, I have forgotten it. Which doesn’t surprise me; already it’s starting to feel too vague. I was holding a sword while trudging through the sand, but that’s the only other detail.”

“Could be just that you already manifest magic. If this place is a—a hotspot of some sort for magic, stands to reason that those who already use it or have ties with it would be susceptible.”
“I don’t,” Myka said, frowning. “The few others from the town who have seen the desert seem ordinary.”
“For now,” Kire murmured, fingers steepled as she frowned in thought at the question of manifests. “There should be several. We lost some of our books and documents during the siege, but there should be copies of most of them. Others would be kept in the capital of each province; every major house should have records of those who consider them liege-lords. We can check our own archives and those of this territories’ major families.” If only this research was as entertaining as the one she and Ruli had done in bed, but Kire knew there was no such luck with that. “Gods, this heat is going to melt me.”

“We should probably take a quick rest, then divide and conquer. I assume you will handle the investigation into the goddess?” Daryll asked, meaning Kire, Ruli, and Ysaryn. “I can get started on the manifests. What will you be doing?” he asked Myka, who wrinkled her nose at the idea of poring over records of royal bloodlines. 
“Think I’ll stay here in camp and interrogate the townsfolk some more. And send word back to the [i]Wenches[/i] to keep an eye out for more of these ‘hotspots’. What do you think?” 
Kire nodded. “Sounds good.” 
Daryll nodded, before excusing himself to find someone who could either provide them or point them to a meal. Myka, too, left to hunt down her messenger. Kire turned to the other two. “Still keen on giving a hand?” she asked.