"Most likely to have been his followers, if he's speaking the truth."

James has to remove his helmet to give Caithe a look.

To which she just shrugs. "I know what it's like to have made mistakes in the past and then want to make amends."

"It was a mursaat fortress, not a White Mantle fortress, and it was older than I am, so if it were the result of his followers' choices, then it was while he was still alive and giving them divine edicts."

She shrugs again and nods.

Marjory shakes her head. "I think I can take care of myself. Or run, if I need to." She looks at James. "He's touched death, Commander, and now he's back... There's something... The necromancer in me wants to find out more. You know what that's like."

James purses his lips.

"Fates worse than death suck a whole bunch more than you'd expect them to," says Vetareh through gritted teeth, then she huffs and looks away, focused on scritching an adorable little dragon. "It's only fair to warn you."

Crrrreeeeee~

"It could be a trap. It's probably a trap. It's almost certainly a trap."

"There's something about him... Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And I can't tell if it's in a good way or a bad way, but I do plan to find out." She smiles. "I'm glad to be part of Dragon's Watch, and I appreciate you looking out for me, but," and she turns her smile to Vetareh, more warmly, "I won't be told what I can and can't do." Then she nods and turns back to the mursaat. "Lazarus, let's move out. We have a lot to talk about, my floaty new friend."

"Hmm," is all he says before following her out.

"Good luck," she calls softly.

Can she just. Flop gently onto the little dragon for snuggly scritches? The little dragon is cute and James is still covered in spikes, so really, this is her best snuggling option right now.

James sighs. "I can't help but feel like I'll be explaining this to Kasmeer shortly..." He turns to Caithe. "Given what happened today, I'd feel a little better if someone I knew was watching the chamber."

"Someone you trust?"

"Yes. So, could you ask Taimi to get here right away?"

"You're joking with me," says Caithe, a wan smile on her face. "I take that as a good sign."

"You've been a lot of things, Caithe, but you've never been an enemy of this dragon."

"I'll lay down my life for... What should we call it?"

"...her. Her name is Aurene."

The dragon perks up at this and makes an adorable crooning sound.

"Aww. That's a pretty name," says Vetareh, un-flopping from tiny dragon snuggles for a bit. "You picked that rather quickly, did you already have the name in mind?"

"No... I didn't really pick it, I just... knew."

"Huh. Well it's still very pretty. Who's a very pretty dragon with a very pretty name!" Scritch scritch scritch!

~~~