“I’ll find out.” Is his brief reply. He waits just long enough see Kit and Riona make it to the door before he turns to deal with the situation outside.

He can’t see out the windows… but it could still be night. Nor can he hear thunder or rain – only the wind. Cautiously, he cracks open the door to the balcony, bringing his arm up as a shield between himself and the warm air blowing in. It’s so dark outside he can’t even see the railing on the balcony. But there are glints of red light riding on the wind – not fireflies, but embers.

He shuts the door. On his way out, he grabs a petal on a table by feel more than sight and scrubs his face. He hasn’t been this sooty since he climbed the castle fireplaces as a child.

“It's too dark to see what's happening outside.” He falters in a cough. His eyes still sting. He presses the petal to his face again, muffling his voice. “There wasn’t enough light for a large fire… but I don’t think it’s a small one either.” He lowers his hands, mild confusion flickering over his face as he thinks about his words. It’s a fire that’s putting out smoke but not light? There was the lightning fire that happened on their sports day... “It could be related to the tree that caught fire a few weeks ago.”