The walk to the third outpost was quiet in the way that walks are quiet when everyone has things they want to say but are waiting for the right moment. The right moment arrived when Kira fell into step beside me and dropped her voice low enough that the sound would not carry to where Jim and Coll were walking ahead. "Can I ask you something?" She said, her tone careful.
"Sure, what happened?." I said, glancing at her.
"When we were finishing the corridor and reached the closest point to the fight you had." She paused, like she was choosing her words. "The smell, Allaran."
"Ah." I said, exhaling lightly.
"We thought they were exaggerating." She glanced at Finn on my other side, who nodded with the expression of someone confirming a traumatic experience. "We genuinely thought Coll and Jim were being dramatic when they described it. But the actual location…"
"There were a lot of serpents." I said, as if that was the problem.
