"Where did they go?" He said.
"Where did who go?"
"The priests," Skori said. "There were supposed to be priests outside, holding a vigil for the ceremony in front of the yard. It was to go on for the entire night. I could hear their chanting as I went to sleep. Where are they now?"
"Well, it's almost sunrise," Tescadji said. "They might have left."
"No, they wouldn't have," Jenius said, shaking his head. "Vigils last until the third hour after sunrise. They wouldn't have left unless it was an emergency."
"Emergency?" Skori echoed, catching the shoe that Tescadji had casually thrown his way.
"Like the one we're having now," Jenius said. "I'd prefer not to think of it that way, but in truth, the priests might also have left for reasons that are something less than pleasant."
"Wait a minute; does this have to do with what you told me and Sedriil all those months ago?" Skori said in dawning realization. He slipped on and buckled his last shoe.
"Ah, so he's catching on!" Tescadji remarked sardonically, and received a magical shock to his backside from Jenius.
"Please, Skori," Jenius said tersely, shaking the remnants of the spell from his fingers. "There is no time. Just do as we say. Wake everyone up and get ready to leave. I'll explain it once everyone is ready."
***
It was slow going, but Skori eventually awakened everyone in the house. But as they set to readying themselves for a departure that they did not understand, they soon discovered a problem.
Alaema was nowhere to be found.
"By the maker …!" Skori ranted, storming out of his room after a much-heated discussion with Sedriil. "That fool of an android … I have half a mind to listen to Skori and just leave her here, but then I'd never hear the end of it from Meri! Where in the world could she have gone off to?"
"Alaema's missing?" Noroa said, coming into the adjacent hallway from the den. Whereas Garen and Sedriil had taken little to no time to prepare themselves, she still wore a robe over her nightgown, its belt wrapped around her now pronounced belly.
"Did you see her last night?" Skori said.
"She was here when we turned in for the night," Noroa said with a nod. "She must have sneaked out sometime later."
"I swear, if she did that, then I'll kill her for you," Skori said to Sedriil, but this elicited no reaction of contentment. As frustrating as Alaema was to deal with, it was evident that everyone else was worried to the point where the emotion overrode negative opinions.