[ explaining her connection to the creatures here was inevitable the moment Liem found her here with a dragon that he has never seen in Set's presence – but Rudbeckia isn't so willing to reveal her ability to someone that she doesn't have a good gauge on, even if he is a friend to Set. she cannot rely on anyone just because they have their own connection to one of her lifelines. if anything, that makes them more dangerous. how many people here would cut her hard-earned tether in an instant, if they thought she was burdening someone they care about? —so, she simply won't tell him the whole truth. ]

Yes, I met it in Alenroux. [ perhaps it is intelligent enough on its own to understand her. there isn't any reason for her to elaborate. ] All the monsters here are refugees.

[ when Ruby says this, she looks up to meet Liem's eye, and there is a stubborn set to her jaw, a glint in her eye, despite her otherwise warm and friendly expression. they are refugees from, of course, the Meridian hunters. creatures driven from their home. just as she, too, is a refugee of the faction conflict with nowhere else to go.

but she doesn't linger on the topic. the last of the containers in her reach is placed into a tidy stack for Liem, and she sits back with a broad, beaming smile, her hands clasped together in her lap. ]

I've been here a lot of the time lately! [ though with her Discord this high, she can't be away from Highstorm for long each day. given that, it isn't a surprise to her that she would have managed to miss someone else's visits entirely, if they're fewer than her own. ] I'm his, um... priestess? Shrine maiden? I don't really know what to call it, but I'm his.