[ There's such a raw nerve there, still, that Flynn swallows hard at the words, his eyes skipping out to the sea with its distant whitecapped waves. ]

My knights and I were being attacked by unusually-aggressive monsters in massive numbers in Hypionia. We were escorting guild refugees, and we ran aground and were attacked. Yuri has been gone for three weeks.

[ And that is the story, and he could leave it there but he rushes to fill in the gap a moment later, his lungs twisting up against the edges of his ribs. ]

I looked for him. As long as I possibly could, I took out the Imperial fleet as long as we could spare—but I never—the world is falling into chaos. The guilds are fractured and leaderless and with Alexei dead and a traitor on top of all of that—

[ He sucks in a shaking breath. Focus, Flynn. You can't unload all your problems onto Rita, not now. Not like this. He draws himself back in, pulls back all his fear and worry and stress, presses it down inside himself. ]

...it's been weeks with no word.