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It didn't help that Hector still had no idea how he'd managed to do it that first night. Rasalased had mentioned something about his blessings interacting with each other, hadn't he? How the hell was he supposed to replicate that? Because normal meditation wasn't cutting it.

He had started to think that it wasn't even up to him. Maybe it was actually Rasalased controlling when they could speak. Rasalased had made it sound like Hector was the one in control, but it just seemed more sensible that the ancient warrior god would have that power, not him.

And if that were the case, then surely, Rasalased would warn him if anything truly dire were to happen over in Sair. So maybe he could just relax a little. Ease his mind.

No.

It would be at this very dinner with Ravi Zaman that Hector would realize just how mistaken that assumption was.

The first indication that something was amiss was simply the look on Ravi's face. Visibly tensed jawline. Hard, wide eyes staring at his phone while the color drained from his face.

"...Something wrong?" asked Hector, having just about finished his plate.

Ravi didn't seem to hear him. Nor did his reaper, whose name they had since learned was Beldorix. They were both just staring at his phone.

"Mr. Zaman," Hector pushed, drawing a few blinks out of the man. "What's the matter?"

"...It appears that Sair has just been conquered," the man said.

'What?!' said Garovel.

Hector didn't know what to say. He wasn't even sure he'd heard that correctly.

"A report just came in," Ravi went on. "Perhaps it is mistaken, or perhaps it is too early to be using a term like 'conquered,' but... it seems that the Sairi forces have just lost a decisive battle in the Uego Desert. The Calthosi are moving in now, unimpeded."

Hector pulled out his own phone, but he couldn't find anything to corroborate Ravi's information. No news on the internet. No messages from the Rainlords back at Warrenhold.

Until about twenty minutes later.