Myka tucked her hair behind her brow that had begun to stick to her temple from sweat. Sid looked like she was managing better in the heat here than she was. “Yeah. Unfortunately,” she said, when Sid asked if she meant something else other than the injuries and trances. A healer went to her and she spoke to him in Taakalon for a few moments before returning her attention to Sid. “I’ll let you finish up, step outside afterward.” From the impression she had gotten of Sid, Myka figured it would be easier for her to deal with bad news when there was work to be done first. The fact that Sid didn’t ask any other question besides what she was supposed to do the moment she appeared told Myka as much. 

Not long later, Myka looked towards Sid as she came out of the tent. “Okay. So.” Myka wiped her brow again, then pointed in the direction of the forest. “You see the line of trees over there? Yeah. There wasn’t a forest there a few days ago. It looks like a goddess from your world had shown up here, causing all sorts of magical aberrations. It gave these Amrians the power to wield fire, though they don’t know shit about how, or why. But that wasn’t all She did.” Myka frowned. “Ruli’s there right now, trying to get Envy back. Kire and Gavin are trying to find a way to get answers, too. We don’t know how it happened, but it looks like that entity spirited Envy away. Now, I don’t know what Ysaryn’s trying to do, or why she didn’t tell you, but I’ll assume you being here will help us in some way.” 
The pirate captain let out a deep sigh. “Fuck, it’s a mess.” She gave Sid a wry smile. “I thought waging a war against mages with our own sorcerers and seeing Kire with her Paladin magic would be the extent of the magical shit I’d find myself involved with. I’m a mercenary, a pirate, a commander. But this sure makes me feel tiny.” She chuckled, though there was worry in her eyes as she fell silent, letting the information sink in for Sid. 

--

Kire didn’t look Risa’s way when she left to fetch them tea, though the corner of her mouth did twitch, almost smiling. Though when Zeltzin started talking about Solaralai, she tried not to frown. “I….see.” It was an understatement, certainly. It was one thing to step from darkness to light, and quite another to suddenly wake up on fire and strange dreams. At the mention of tithes, though, she raised a brow. Her gaze flickered to the statuette before looking back at the priestess. “Yes. I retrieved this from Ziad. Along with other items. What kind of tithes would be considered ‘correct’?” Kire asked, ignoring the food. “And does the Goddess—punish nonbelievers? You can probably imagine, my people have their own gods and spirits they’ve worshipped. Will this Goddess bring her wrath upon them because of this? Or if harm came to the temple, things of that sort.”