Two men came through the portal back to Caido, and Jigano had led the way up the stairs and out of the Spire, shivering as they stepped from Halo-cold to Hollowed Grounds-heat. The temperature shock took some time to get used to, but he had also wanted to be out of the Spire before he checked the small sphere tucked into an inner pocket of his undertunic. He defied the Voice enough without taunting her in her own lair, and he waited until they had cleared the Spire's shadow and slipped into the Glade, seeking the tranquility and protection of the Shrine there before he shucked off the layers needed to survive Halo's summer and pulled the orb free.
He held it in his closed hand, looking atLoren rather than it, blue eyes solemn and worried as he arched a questioning brow at his friend. "Are you ready?" he asked gently. "If you want to wait, I'd understand. I'll still look but... I can hold off on telling you what I learn until you're ready to hear it." They'd been over it before, but Loren had been so unhappy and hesitant that the bard wanted to give him one last chance to back out before they took the plunge into knowing - and once they knew, could never return to ignorance.
He held it in his closed hand, looking at
