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The days passed as bitterly as they could do, Stare hating each one worst than the last. It was not helped that Lament seemed to be a gossip and spread what had transpired between her and Stare within a matter of hours of settling into the small room that Stare could provide. She seemed determined to complain, and despite the fact she had appeared as a crying young girl she had tenacity. Yet still Stare kept her as safe as possible, and in fact made Blaze and Sable as comfortable as she could get away with, without angering Vitruvion too much, or making Zulon too exhausted with her.

A week past, and there was little to no news from Vitruvion. Only a brief discussion of him asking if there were any major issues, and them him avoiding talking about Ventrua. Eventually he had shouted at Stare, to the point that her ears had physically rung. From that day she had made herself as busy as possible, spending as much time as she could outside of the Hollow, though now wth a party of three guards, including a gruff dwarf called Granit.

It was a gentle day later, and Stare was riding her chocobo steed, Sen, who was a great, black, flightless bird. She had just spent the last three hours in communion with a burly man who was the security at the offices Vitruvion owned and hired out. Apparently he had issues with the demands of the job, and wanted either a pay rise or a colleague. The meeting had not needed to last so long but Stare was rapidly running out of reasons to spend all day above ground. Quite desperately she tried to stay out for as long as she could each day.

Beside her Jordain rode on their steed - a sleek black horse by the name of Whistle. They kept throwing Stare various glances, from smiles to intrigue. The kenku tried to ignore them for a while, before grunting.

“What?”

“Nothing, miss,” Jordain replied. “I have just heard, not seen.”

“Never seen me?” Stare rose her brow a little. “Are you knew then?”

Jordain nodded slightly, and used a hand to brush back a stray hair from their face. “In a way. I used to serve under Sir Elssmith in the army.”

Stare suddenly was stunned. Never before had she been faced with someone who knew Vitruvion before he founded the Hollow - that was, aside from his sister Ventrua and Raevin, who had been serving the god for nearing fifty years apparently.

“Do you know Raevin then?” she asked, not masking the shock in her voice.

Jordain shrugged a little. “You could say so. We were different platoons but connected.”

“You rode a Pegasus?” Stare asked, referring to the fact Vitruvion had ridden one, whom he had called Venesse.

The tall elf laughed slightly and touched the hilt of their sword, that Stare only now saw was particularly large. “No,” Jordain said, “But I was part of the Tel Celebarrna, the standing army portion of the garrison.”

Stare slowly nodded, her eyes not hiding the wonder. “On the city of Tor Elythis, the island colony.”

“If you can call it a colony,” Jordain smiled, their lips curving into something sweet, “It is self sufficient, which I believe suited a man like Sir Elssmith with his ancestry and pride, but it is still part of Raiaera.”

Ancestry and pride. The kenku found herself looking away, slowly filling her lungs with air. She had not expected to meet anyone who knew Vitruvion from beyond that time aside from Raevin and Ventrua, especially one who talked of him with such pride. Why Jordain would want to then work for him in a pit of horror like the Hollow was beyond Stare but then, she had never asked the question even of Zulon. Each person she knew had their own reasons, she her own. Maybe the Hollow had started out something different, and had gotten darker the more Vitruvion lost hope.