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"I see," said Hector. There was something else he wanted to ask the King about, but not with everyone around like this.

"Truth be told," said Gina, "we're still not entirely sure how these goggles work--or how they're made. We know that they're infused with ardor, but the process by which we might accomplish that feat for ourselves is still mysterious to us."

"And even if it wasn't mysterious to us," said Roman, "there could be more to it than just the infusion process. The Hun'Kui are a pretty interesting bunch. I've made a few solo trips back down to the Undercrust, trying to get to know them and their culture better. In theory, it seems like ardor-infused earbuds or headphones should allow you to hear a reaper's voice, but so far, I haven't been able to find anything like that. I'm also not yet sure why these goggles have become so widely used among the Hun'Kui."

"What do you mean?" said the King, still wearing his pair. "Are they not being used for precisely this same purpose? To see reapers?"

"That's what I thought at first, too," said Roman, "but the more time I spend down there, the less sense that makes to me. I haven't really seen that many reapers down there. They seem to be just as rare in the Undercrust as they are on the surface."

Gina chuckled. "You say they're rare, but we have three in this very room. And how many more are hanging around Warrenhold, right now?"

Roman put up his hands with a shrug. "Yeah, okay, this castle is a bit of a reaper hot spot, but as far I've been told, there are less than a million reapers in the entire world. Maybe that seems like a lot, but it's really not, especially when compared to the billions of living people that they're supposedly watching over."

'Shit,' said Voreese, 'you're making me feel guilty for not getting much reaping done, lately.'