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[b]"Fortune..."[/b] Atzi murmured, eyeing Gideon, then recalling all the other strangers that came into the village recently. The Raam offered little that she could consider helpful though. As a matter of fact, if not for his good work before this, she would 100% have planted her fist into his face (probably breaking her bones but definitely breaking his veins) for even [i]suggesting[/i] that Achel was suspicious in any way, shape, or form.

It appeared, though, that Gideon was not pulled into this by the same fortune that those travelers from years past have been pulled into, and the Sage of Steel was more Steel than Sage. So she didn't bother to stop him on his way out. Didn't bother, but...why the fuck was [i]he[/i] apologizing? The sting of her stump, the twitching of her phantom limb, all fed into a certain distrust. A budding dread, perhaps. Atzi let out a breath though. She could recognize when she was thinking too hard about courtesies, looking too deeply for malice. Gideon, after all, hadn't been with Achel while she laboured over the countless deceased who had to be placed inside the catacombs.

Didn't change though, that there was a shrine beneath the church. The same shrine that...

Atzi stopped. Thought.

[b]"Could they have connected it?"[/b]

An undying body, possessing inhuman appendages and strength just shy of her own. A shrine that they needed keys for, lying right beneath the church. The dark-skinned woman could feel her mind fraying at its ends, trying to wrap it together. But it was certainly possible, wasn't it?

[b]"Like, if they were looking for the stone, they would already know about the shrine. And if they knew about the shrine, they would want to get to the shrine. So like...tunnels? Easy to do if they don't die and have lots of arms. And going from the shrine to [i]their[/i] church? Makes it easy to sneak into Dawn too, so Achel would want to close it up."[/b] Atzi moved to scratch her head, but only her shoulder moved up with that intention. She scowled. Shook distracting thoughts out. [b]"Honestly though, Enli, could we just like, break that rock? I'm sure Bolcha's got at least [i]one[/i] sharp chisel in his shed."[/b]