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Hector was more worried for them than even the Vantalayan team, but as of yet, they had not reported anything too troubling. The Vanguard and the Sandlords were apparently getting along with only minor disputes between them, as the aid that the Sandlords had given the Rainlords had apparently not yet come to light.

If it did, though... Hector didn't even want to think about what kind of problems that might bring. Frankly, he'd been against the idea of sending that team into Sair in the first place, but the Rainlords were adamant about the need for trustworthy intel from the region. Which he understood, of course. It was their land. If he was in their position, and it was Atreya that was at risk, then he would probably feel the same way.

But it was nerve-racking, all the same. He was expecting to receive terrible news any day now--or to simply stop receiving reports altogether.

He had therefore been incredibly tempted over the last few days to go ask Ravi if he knew anything about the conflict in Sair. The guy had been a little loose with information from other war zones, so it wasn't inconceivable that he might be willing to share details from that one, too.

But that would be extending quite a bit of trust Ravi's way, Hector felt. Too much, perhaps.

It was one thing for Ravi to volunteer such information without being prompted. It was another thing for Hector to ask about it. Doing so would immediately reveal to Ravi that Hector had some kind of interest in the region--and that might be enough for the man to look deeper and start connecting all sorts of dots that Hector didn't want him to.

And no matter how Ravi might contextualize things, he was still a member of Abolish at the end of the day.

Hector had to keep that in mind.