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Before the silence could become too deafening, however, Worwal stepped into the conversation. 'I believe the best course of action is to get in touch with the Vanguard and join the fight for the Wetlands. The situation may look grim, but as far as we know, Sair might still be saved.'

Garovel had something to say about that, apparently. 'I would caution against that. I've gotten word that the Vanguard has already lost its grip on the Wetlands.'

'You've gotten word?' said Worwal. 'From where?'

'We have informants still in the country,' said Garovel.

Informants? That was news to Hector. Garovel couldn't have been talking about the scouting team of Rainlords, could he? Hmm, maybe he was. Hector had assumed that the scouting team had returned to Warrenhold with Hahl Saqqaf and the rest of the refugees, but it would also make sense if they'd redeployed to western Sair, instead.

Agh, so many moving parts to keep track of. Hector was glad to have Garovel around for these sorts of things. Hector hadn't seen him all that much while making the rounds earlier, and he knew it was because Garovel had been busy talking to virtually every other reaper in Warrenhold, old and new arrivals alike.

Hector had wondered if this was going to be the new paradigm, with the two of them dividing the responsibility of overseeing Warrenhold's operations. It certainly helped save time, even if it meant not getting to see Garovel quite as often.

If this really was going to continue into the foreseeable future, though, then they would probably need to spend more time bringing each other up to speed at the end of each day, Hector figured.

'That can't be true,' said Worwal. 'The Vanguard couldn't have lost the Wetlands so quickly. Didn't we just receive word that Jackson survived the clash at Uego?'