The camp was quiet when they crested the dune.
Thalia, Himothy, Yara and Ailin sat around a small, carefully shielded fire that provided just enough heat for warmth, but not enough light to be seen from the settlement. Tavian had clearly already delivered his brief report from before. The team's alert posture was telling.
"What's the latest," Thalia said immediately as the five scouts materialized from the darkness.
Deacon took the lead, explaining everything succinctly: the shattered statue, the religious fracturing, the secret Radiant One believers organizing, the priests' internal collapse, the timeline accelerating toward crisis…
"Within twenty-four hours," Deacon concluded, "this settlement will either convert to The Radiant One or descend into religious civil war. Possibly both."
"What's the total population?" Thalia asked.
