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Soon, everything was moving. The warehouses were bustling with dozens of servants working together, and there was a feeling that they were finally making good progress. The pods were only being removed from the buildings and placed on the other side of the layer of brown dirt, but it was a start.

He eventually spotted Asad and his family moving among the crowd. They were especially noticeable because of their robes, which Hector was surprised to see were still intact, unlike almost everyone else’s clothes. He would’ve liked to say hello, but they already seemed pretty invested in helping with the evacuation effort. The Lord Najir did take notice of him, however, despite how many other servants were wearing armor similar to his; and when the tattooed man offered him an acknowledging wave, Hector was quite pleased to return one of his own.

As the work continued, Hector also thought to ask Garovel about the threat potential of boron, but the reaper just said it wasn’t a particularly volatile element, as far as he was aware. Then he asked Garovel if anyone present might have some sort of elemental advantage against it, but the reaper didn’t think so.

‘Maybe if someone here could materialize pure hydrogen,’ said Garovel. ‘Though, that might be more of a double-edged sword than an actual advantage.’

The closer they got to completing the evacuation, the more Hector worried that bad news would arrive at any moment. Maybe it was just his natural pessimism, or maybe it was an entirely rational adaptation to his lifestyle, but whatever it was, he kept expecting to hear Voreese suddenly tell everyone that Leo was on his way or that a feldeath was about to rip Capaporo to pieces or something.

But to Hector’s immense surprise and relief, that didn’t happen.

They finished removing all of the climate pods safely from the warehouse--by which time, Zeff and Axiolis had already begun leading a trail of Rainlords back towards Warrenhold. Manuel and Lorios led another entourage shortly thereafter, followed by Diego and Yangéra, and finally Hector and Garovel.

And since he was bringing up the rear, Hector ended up with perhaps more than his fair share of some of those powerful Rainlords in his group, including Melchor and several of the top Blackburns, Dimas and several of the top Sebolts, and Evangelina Stroud by herself. The rest of her family members were still captives of the Vanguard, after all.

The woman seemed to be in relatively high spirits, however.

“I have never worn armor like this before,” she said, clad head to toe in full iron plate like pretty much everyone else in their party. “It is a bit restrictive, but I can see why you appear so fond of it.”

Hector wasn’t sure what to say. Materializing armor that fit the female form had easily been his most harrowing experience today, but he was glad that she seemed to like it. She was even carrying one of his shields.