Kire raised a brow at Ruli as she looked at him. He looked distracted, almost like the way Daryll had been right after the visions. She walked with him back to the caves, similarly wondering why the goddess would show herself to somebody who didn’t really pray to her or worship her. And why did she feel such foreboding towards the temple? Beyond associating it with the carnage Ikegai had brought upon Ziad, there seemed to be something else. [i]The dragon and the goddess.[/i] Kire huffed. She couldn’t really blame Ruli for sinking into his own thoughts when she, too, couldn’t help but do the same. 

She smiled, though, when they saw Envy, and followed him back to his chambers at his bidding. Once they had sat down, Kire turned to the Kartaian and spoke. “The protection wards might come especially handy now, given certain developments,” she began, and then she launched into a recounting of what had happened, and a description of each vision they had seen. “We’re trying to find out as much as we can about Solaralai. If there are still priests or priestesses alive somewhere, better if they have some record or scripture, that would be good. But right now, it’s anybody’s guess what this Goddess wants with my country, or if it’s just some freak magical occurrence.” 

Even as she said that last, she snorted softly. “Fat chance of that, though. None of these visions are telling me she comes in peace—though, okay, none of them are overtly an attack, either. I think. See, this is why I don’t pray anymore,” she muttered, frowning.