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Hector looked over to Jessup, whom he'd shielded from the wind with a quick wall of curved iron. He dematerialized his work, and the man was standing there, hands out in front of his face but eyes wide open.

"...You okay?" said Hector.

The butler required another moment to find his composure again. "Ah--yes, sir. Th-thank you for... whatever you just did."

"Sure thing."

There wasn't much point in sticking around, so Hector moved to leave, and Jessup offered to guide him back to the entrance. Hector didn't really think he needed the help, but he accepted, anyway. A part of him wanted to wander around the Gaolanet's estate and see if he could find any other Sparrows to talk to, but he figured he should get back to Warrenhold.

His small army of iron-clad human statues followed close behind, and he could tell that they unsettled Jessup. He tried to reassure the poor guy, but he wasn't sure how much it helped. The butler kept asking--rather shakily--if there was anything else he could do before Hector left, such as providing refreshments, but Hector politely declined.

By the time he made it all the way back to the car, everyone was still frozen. Since he still didn't actually have a driver's license, he decided to wait. It wouldn't be long now.

Hopefully.

He pulled out his phone to check the news, but there wasn't much to go on yet.

The more he thought about it, the more easily he could believe that Calthos had attacked Sair. As he recalled, the Abolishers who attacked Dunehall had, supposedly, been biding their time in Calthos beforehand; and he remembered the Sandlords being concerned about tensions with that country, too.

He'd also gotten a brief update from Asad about two weeks ago regarding the state of things over there. The Sandlords had been working hard to keep the peace, and the Vanguard showed no signs of leaving anytime soon, apparently trying to court Abbas Saqqaf.