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House Blackburn was having its share of fresh troubles as well. With Ismael dead, Darktide unconscious, and Ibai missing, the person who everyone expected to lead them was Lady Nere. But apparently, the woman had suffered a nervous breakdown, and now the family was in disarray. Garovel hadn’t been able to get all of the details yet.

And then, of course, there were the Elroys.

Quite possibly, Zeff looked worse than anyone. He didn’t just have bags under his eyes. He had bags around his eyes, as if the upper half of his face were trying to sink into itself.

Hector thought he felt tired. Zeff looked like he never intended to let himself fall asleep ever again.

Before Hector had even made it back to Dunehall with Abbas, Zeff had gone off in search of his children. After a few hours, he returned with Marcos and Ramira, who was finally able to receive proper medical attention for the wound on her foot. Since then, Zeff had been going out periodically in search of Emiliana. Hector, among others, had even accompanied him a few times.

But finally, it seemed, the Lord Elroy had given up. For the time being, anyway. Hector didn’t imagine he would ever really stop looking. It was probably just a matter of finding some kind of lead.

Currently, though, Zeff wasn’t letting Marcos and Ramira out of his sight. He would even bring them to meetings with him, despite the looks of disapproval from various Sandlords.

All in all, Hector had never seen so many devastated people in one place. The somber air was so heavy among the Rainlord encampments that Hector could practically feel it on his bare skin, as if their sorrow had somehow manifested physical weight.

Though, maybe it had. Garovel said that these were just the effects of normal human empathy, but Hector wasn’t entirely convinced. At this point, he wouldn’t have been surprised if soul power played some subtle part here, too.