Unfortunately, it is. If she's the key to stopping this darkness, we need her help. We can't turn aside if she did go off by herself.

[There is a number of reasons she could leave. He turns them over in his head. They don't have enough information to rule any of them out.]

Anyway, we don't know what caused this. Or if she left of her own will. Magic makes everything fuzzy. Someone outside could have called her mind to mind and convinced her to come out. Or any number of things.

One thing to determine will be what role magic plays in their society and how many have it.

Astoria won't pull us out unless she absolutely has to. For good or ill, it's better to do what we can.

[He glances towards the dimmer area with narrowed eyes.] And I'm curious what Kathashun meant by 'something seeping into this world'.

It reminds me of what Astoria said when we came back from Struxta. She mentioned darkness then and then that plague struck all of us.