Celeste could only nod at Maia's comments about avoiding the outpost and trusting the guards. In time she hoped to change the woman's impression of her people, but for now there was nothing she could do. Belaboring the point would only lead to more hostility, though she would have liked to explain the enmity between Taldor and Cheliax. Dugald was guilty of overdoing it, but his intentions had been good. She did not doubt his loyalty to Taldor, but Maia did have one thing right. If something untoward were to happen to her, Dugald would not be displeased.<br/><br/>What Maia had to say was far more important in any case, and she listened with growing astonishment to the woman's story. So that was it. The force that had destroyed the Shory, a people gifted in so many ways. Celeste felt herself growing cold despite walking in the morning sunlight. If this was true, and she had no reason to doubt it...<br/><br/>"I was never able to discover what happened to your people," she said softly. "References to a disaster, but none that explained it. Oh Maia, that sounds terrible. Your people are cursed, and have been since the fall? Is there no way to stop it, to break it? I am a wizard of some power, and there are more like me from Taldor. We may be able to help, if you'll allow us." She assumed Maia must know some way of breaking the curse or she would not be standing here as a Shoryan, but as some warped creature.<br/><br/>A power that could bring down an entire civilization was terrible news, indeed. Should such a power fall into the hands of the Chelaxians, she could not imagine what danger Taldor, nay the entire civilized world, would face.<br/><br/>She was so caught up in Maia's story that she did not notice the ground trembling, as if something large and heavy moved through the ruins behind them. Nor was she concerned when pebbles tumbled from a wall beside her, thinking it was only the breeze.<br/>