Gavin hadn’t realized he had been holding his breath as he and Daryll held onto Ruli. His eyes never left Ruli, watching, waiting, hoping that the older sorcerer would see something, [i]anything[/i]. But when Ruli leaned against the table, the young mage’s heart sank. He stumbled backward, sitting down on the ground with a thud, dazed, choking back a cry even as Ruli roared out his despair. 
“Hey, what—oh.” Myka had stepped in, the alarm on her face quickly turning to sadness, realizing what had happened. She stood there for a moment, looking to Daryll, who only shook his head in silent reply to the unspoken question. “Shit.”
Daryll placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “This is not your fault. This was complex magic we had attempted. We will try again, when we’re ready.” 
“I don’t know what else to do. This was our best shot,” the lad muttered quietly, not rising from the ground even as Daryll did. The Wyvern scholar sighed, looked around the tent, then went to Myka. 
“This isn’t your best shot. This is the first day of disappearance, we’re all working with a lot of unknown variables and we’ve been rattled by what’s happened today. You need to rest,” he said, though part of him knew they would more likely just stew in their failure. At the moment, there wasn’t much else any of them could do. He knew how that felt, to have the world yanked from beneath one’s feet, the feeling of everything you loved slipping away. The Wyverns knew that all too well. 
“You go tell Kay,” Myka murmured. “I’ll go make sure they’re fed and looked after.” 
Gavin looked up as Daryll, then Myka left to take care of things. His body trembled, tired from the effort, exhausted from the emotions that threatened to burst out of him the way it did with Ruli. He pursed his lips and looked at Rab. “You did good. I’m sorry. I—” He clamped his mouth shut again and covered his face. [i]You’re a mutt. A failure.[/i] The ghost of Ikegai’s voice echoed in his mind. [i]You’re nothing without me.[/i] “No. No, no, no,” he murmured over and over. 

Kire hadn’t left the town the whole day. Though she was anxious to know the results of the spell, she stayed clear of the tent, knowing they needed space to work on the tracing, and knowing how much Ruli, especially, needed much more effort to focus his mind away from the spiral of despair that lingered at the edges of his consciousness. She had gone back and forth between the camp, the edge of the forest, the town, afraid to miss a single new development, good or bad, that could happen any moment within the afternoon. A few more times throughout the day she’d had to assuage the local lord’s fears about the forest growing, or more people suddenly bursting into flame. She knew if they even so much as thought she couldn’t handle the situation, they’d resort to a more violent way of solving it. Already they had begun to think of permanently driving out the people in camp, or suggesting to her that perhaps the Empress’s armies should converge around the camp, ready to act if things escalated. She had answered that last one with a stare that brooked no further argument. 
By evening she had begun walking back to the camp after yet another attempt to investigate the forest’s perimeter when she saw Daryll walking towards her looking worn and dejected. She didn’t need to hear what he had to say to guess what had happened. Truthfully, she had hoped, too, that there would at least be some good news to come out of their efforts to trace Envy, most especially if it meant that she didn’t have to kowtow to Solaralai by building the temple. But with their efforts exhausted for now, she had no other recourse but to put faith in the building of the house of worship. “[i]Faith[/i],” the Paladin muttered under her breath. [i]Alright, we’ll try it your way.[/i]

She made her way towards the tent in time to see Gavin shuffle out of it, looking numb. He glanced at her and mumbled something about lying down to sleep as he walked off, arms crossed. She spotted both Ruli and Rab inside, along with the scattered remnants of the spell’s ingredients along the floor and spattered on the tent. “Rab, you too, time to rest. There’ll be a room for you, and more food. Sid should be along for a break, too.” As Rab was led out, Kire turned to Ruli. Even during the discussion and preparation earlier, he had been unfocused, impatient, listless in turns. She could only imagine how heavily this failure weighed on him now. She stepped closer, trying to gauge his mood before reaching out for him to pull into an embrace, knowing nothing she could say right now could offer comfort. “First thing tomorrow, I’ll start on the temple idea,” she murmured after a couple of moments of silence, pulling away. “I’ll take care of it. Rest here for now. Alright?” She held his hand gently as she spoke before turning back. “I’ll get started on preparations.” 

Her first stop was back in Uvano. It was eerily quiet, perhaps due to the measures Ysaryn had put in place. Concentrating, she tracked down the elf as quickly as she could manage through her signature. “Ruli and Gavin were unsuccessful. First thing tomorrow, I’m fetching Zeltzin,” she said as soon as she saw Ysaryn. “Tell her I want to start on the temple as soon as possible. And—one more thing.” She looked at her friend, hoping she didn’t look too impatient. “I need to know what, exactly, you are doing here, what it’s for. If you’re going to ask me to keep the others on my side of the gate, I need a good reason. We have enough to worry about, all of us.” She sighed heavily. “Tomorrow. First thing.” 

	Kire’s next stop, however, was the North. Elva was easy enough to track down; it seemed she had been staying in the infirmary, watching over Lyta. When the healer spotted her, Kire put a finger to her lips and beckoned her cousin to step out with her. “[i]What is going on?[/i]” Elva asked. 
	“[i]How is she doing?[/i]”
	“[i]Mm. No change so far. For as long as she is calm, or as close to calm as she could get—she’s a skittish one, mind—everything seems under control.[/i]” She looked Kire over, sensing the tension in her. “[i]I take it things aren’t looking so great?[/i]”
	With another heavy sigh, Kire told her what had happened leading up to this evening, and what she was planning to do tomorrow. Elva frowned, shaking her head slightly. “I know what you’re going to say,” Kire began. “I don’t like it either.”
	“Gods.” Elva ran her fingers through her hair. “[i]Did you come to see Lyta? Talk to her about her power?[/i]” 
	Kire glance at the entrance of the infirmary. “[i]Let her rest for now. Don’t tell her the Empress is looking for her. But I might see her tomorrow. Right now I just—I need to sort out my own head. I feel like I’m shooting an arrow in the dark.[/i]”
	She returned to the camp and made her way to the inn where Ruli and the others had been given lodging. Gods, she wanted to rest so badly, but she felt she couldn’t sleep, either. So, instead, she resolved to keep watch for a few more hours, hoping she’d tire herself out enough to get at least some rest before the meeting with Zeltzin tomorrow. 

Dawn found her slumped against the headboard of her room, having only just had a few hours of sleep, as she had anticipated. She groaned, rubbing her face, cursing the day and what she was about to face. [i]Don’t tarry. Envy and your people need you.[/i] As soon as she was ready to leave, Kire Portaled into Uvano, ready to meet Ysaryn and Zeltzin.