Sunjata's explanation cleared up much of Jigano's confusion, the explanation succinct but clear enough for the bard to follow, and he nodded his understanding of the chain of events... however strange they seemed. After being in the Hollowed Grounds for a year, welcoming newly-portaled-in arrivals, however, he had a far better basis for making sense of it. None of his Helovian friends had mentioned the portals on that world before, but Caido made it much easier to swallow the tale down, and it wasn't like he had any reason to doubt Sunjata.
"Melita is... she could use some family here," he agreed quietly. "She lost much on Helovia, as I understand it." He said nothing to the parts about 'understanding who she was' or 'the blood in her veins.' Meddler though he was, he knew it wasn't his place to intervene in family matters, and Melita was strong-willed enough to stand up for herself if Sunjata grew too insistent on trying to force his world's way of things on her Helovian spirit. Even if, as a son of immigrants, he had certain strong opinions of others trying to force an appreciation and knowledge of a land he would never see down his throat.
Lusea was a topic that mattered more at the moment, especially with her whereabouts unknown. Jigano nodded gravely at the information, hearing something of Sunjata's fear for his lover as much in what he didn't say as in what he did. She'd made no preparations to take off - either through the portal or to anywhere else - and though he couldn't imagine why anyone in the Hollowed Grounds would kidnap anyone else, it wasn't hard at all to come up with a few reasons she might have been killed and her body hidden. A mugging gone wrong, a mind that snapped under the number of earth-shaking changes that the Hollowed Grounds had endured in the past year leading someone to kill an Outlander, or someone else from Korofi who had come through recently with a personal grudge against her... though admittedly the latter was far less likely. "If you find any leads or learn about where she might be, I'll help however I can," he said quietly. "If she's hurt or anything has happened... well, I have healing magic as well." Among other talents that might come in useful if Sunjata needed a distraction.
The mud was everywhere, but thankfully there was less Memory Mud among the more usual muck. As Sunjata created more mudballs Jigano broadened the reach of his earth-wave so he could roll two and three balls of mud at once, murmuring apologies at those Naturals he passed who looked offended at his open use of magic on the street. Now it wasn't just keeping him clean; it also let him move more balls at once than he could have with his arms alone, and between them the bard and the panther were steadily cleaning out a broad area of the domiciles.
"Melita is... she could use some family here," he agreed quietly. "She lost much on Helovia, as I understand it." He said nothing to the parts about 'understanding who she was' or 'the blood in her veins.' Meddler though he was, he knew it wasn't his place to intervene in family matters, and Melita was strong-willed enough to stand up for herself if Sunjata grew too insistent on trying to force his world's way of things on her Helovian spirit. Even if, as a son of immigrants, he had certain strong opinions of others trying to force an appreciation and knowledge of a land he would never see down his throat.
Lusea was a topic that mattered more at the moment, especially with her whereabouts unknown. Jigano nodded gravely at the information, hearing something of Sunjata's fear for his lover as much in what he didn't say as in what he did. She'd made no preparations to take off - either through the portal or to anywhere else - and though he couldn't imagine why anyone in the Hollowed Grounds would kidnap anyone else, it wasn't hard at all to come up with a few reasons she might have been killed and her body hidden. A mugging gone wrong, a mind that snapped under the number of earth-shaking changes that the Hollowed Grounds had endured in the past year leading someone to kill an Outlander, or someone else from Korofi who had come through recently with a personal grudge against her... though admittedly the latter was far less likely. "If you find any leads or learn about where she might be, I'll help however I can," he said quietly. "If she's hurt or anything has happened... well, I have healing magic as well." Among other talents that might come in useful if Sunjata needed a distraction.
The mud was everywhere, but thankfully there was less Memory Mud among the more usual muck. As Sunjata created more mudballs Jigano broadened the reach of his earth-wave so he could roll two and three balls of mud at once, murmuring apologies at those Naturals he passed who looked offended at his open use of magic on the street. Now it wasn't just keeping him clean; it also let him move more balls at once than he could have with his arms alone, and between them the bard and the panther were steadily cleaning out a broad area of the domiciles.
