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'I have to agree,' said Garovel. 'If Abolish manages to conquer western Sair as well, then that will almost certainly pull the neighboring Intarians into the war, whether they like it or not. And if Intar enters, it has the power to impact all five war fronts at once. Which is why I'm thinking that Abolish won't actually try to finish Sair off--or at least, not yet. It seems more likely to me that they will want to expand their influence AROUND Intar first.'

'Which would mean invading Callum next,' said Meslhanz, 'followed by Lorent, and then quite possibly Atreya.'

'Yes,' said Garovel. 'I doubt they consider us anything more than a speck on the map, at the moment, so there's a slight chance they might just pass us by and not even bother invading, but that's one of the best-case scenarios, as far as I'm concerned.'

'I don't know about that,' said Mehlsanz. 'The best-cases would all involve Abolish being defeated before even getting close to us again.'

'Mm. Call me a pessimist, but that sounds too optimistic to even humor.'

The Queen reemerged from the bathroom, having redonned her dark attire from when she'd first arrived at Warrenhold. "In any case, we should not dawdle. Matters must be attended to. I look forward to seeing you in Lorent, Hector. Hopefully, we have a greater opportunity for a long talk."

From there, the conversation didn't last much longer. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, the Queen and Lynn leaving first.

Hector made a quick trip over to his own room since it was so close and changed into some clothes that he didn't mind getting destroyed. Unfortunately, he didn't have a black cloak at his disposal like his royal guests did, but he had plenty of dark coats and pants--and of course, the Scarf of Amordiin.

It didn't take him long before he was ready, and he made for the Entry Tower to meet up with Levinox.