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"What is it, Father Renault?" Victoria asked, peering over her fellow bishop's shoulder. She had long put away the Aureola tome to its proper place.

Sue too was curious, and wanted to know what the message was just before she went out. "Well.. what does it say?" asked the nomad trooper.

Ed trundled in cheerfully near Alihi. As soon as the spikes of her boots hit the carpet, Ed remembered what she was wearing and adjusted her stride so she wouldn't trip. The girl stopped in the middle of the room and stretched thoughtfully with a great, generous yawn.

She considered retiring to the library immediately to do some bird anatomy. No, Ed had not heard about the other attack in Eyris, nor had she learned of Tibarn's sudden change of heart... So there was nothing to shadow her mind at the moment.

Except for a bat that looked familiar.

Veeerrrrry familiar.

A bat that made her want to punch things.

Or smash skulls.

Huh, she thought. Wonder why that is.

". . . Haha. I know who this is from." Renault's face reflected his happiness at getting news from his friend. After all, it had been. . . a good five months since he had seen this one last? It was good to know he was still well. "This is a response. . . I prayed to Ashera before I left. This is my response to that prayer, written by a dear friend. It seems. . . Ashera is here, but she cannot do anything because the dark god is watching." A slight cloud crossed the Saint's face. "More likely than not, if he's watching now, he's involved with this. But we can't do anything about that." Not yet, anyway, he said silently. If they did face Loki, at some point in the future. . . that would be the time he would use Aureole. As the servant of Saint Elimine, he would confront the heretic god himself when the time came. . . though of course he would not nearly be the only one, he suspected.

"In any case, it's just a confirmation of what I thought." The Saint moved over to a nearby table, and with a few quick motions scratched a quick reply onto a sheet of paper. The leaf, he folded and placed inside his robe. It wouldn't last long, but any memento of his friend was welcome. Then, he folded the piece of paper and held it up in his hand. "Would you mind bringing along this reply, little one?" he asked the bat. "I won't need any answer to it. I'd just like it to get to him."

Malachi recognized the gesture immediately. Despite the months that had worn away, his training was not forgotten; the bat took the note between his little fangs, then carefully maneuvered it to his talons. His little wings stretched out and he squinted at the forms around him before taking off.

Malachi circled the room several times, blinking as he sought his initial entrance. When he finally distinguished the outside darkness, he zipped out of the window, now clutching a little piece of paper to deliver. If the thought had crossed his little head he would have scowled at that window.

Alihi nodded slowly, listening intently to what was spoken. She didn't like the sound of what Aran had said to her. So, she wanted to ease her mind a bit by hearing what was going on, maybe get a clue to what the "heck of a situation" Aran had mentioned was.

And, well... it didn't work too well. "... The dark god..." She muttered to herself, her eyes following the bat as it flew off, carrying off with it Renault's note. She leaned against the wall, getting lost in thought almost instantly. The tactician was rather tired at this point but she kept her eyes open anyways; it's not that she wanted to stay awake, she just didn't feel like falling asleep yet.

Alihi nodded slowly. Twice already a tome had been mentioned since she had arrived back. Must be some new and important weapon we got while I was gone. Great. She sighed quietly. Time to speak out, I guess...

"... I'd be correct to assume that the tome somehow removes the effects of... whatever is actually affecting them?" The tactician asked aloud, not waiting for a response before continuing; from what she heard, she could assume that she was correct. "If so, then Amelia is right. We have to help them. But we've also got to do it logically. I mean, we can't try to save two different people at once if they aren't close to each other. I don't think the tome can be split in two." She stated clearly, pushing herself off the wall with her foot.

"Now, as much as I want to be selfish, do you guys have any... suggestions on who we go after first? We should agree on someone and then send a small group after them. I don't want to send anyone out in a group with less than three people, especially after hearing and seeing how strong some of them are... Give us a chance on being successful." She paused.

"Wait. Who has been... uhm... corrupted? I know Nils and Rei have, and also Abel. But is there anyone else...?" Alihi questioned, again suspecting something but not being fully certain.

One would think it difficult to miss an eight-foot scaly green man in the room with you, but Ganon had quietly crept back into the living room and sat down more or less unnoticed in all this excitement and confusion. The reptile wasn't really interested in it, but he could certainly see that there was a growing sense of distress in the room. Quietly, he tuned his guitar with perfect pitch, then began to strum, picking out a melody. Once more, a stuffy, warm sort of quiet filled the room, spreading out from his guitar as the gentle notes rang out.

Weaving bardsong through his guitar allowed Ganon to play into the natural empathy of his listeners, to becalm anger and fear. After all, what good could come of everyone shouting at one another and keeping one another awake.

Once the room had begun to quiet down, he looked up with bright, smiling eyes at Alihi. "I believe you are the one known as Alihi? We found Amara walking around Eyris. Apparently, she left your brother a note, but we decided it would be best to bring her here. She's asleep upstairs, second door on the right." His tempo never faltered as he spoke, and still the music went on as he looked up at Sue.

"There seems to be general consensus that you are our greatest chance for dealing with this bird problem, but I urge you not to run off just yet, Miss Sue. I trust that you are indeed an excellent shot, but... Do you really think you can, from the ground, hit a moving hawk in the dark in the middle of the night?"

He paused to let that sink in and quietly added, "If you missed, do you think you could nock another arrow before he got to you?"

Still, his fingers wove a power older than magic through the air.

[What song is he playing, you ask? Why, Earth, Wind & Fire's September, of course! Life's guiltiest and most pleasant guilty pleasure.]