Back at the camp, the captain and a naga mage interrogate Haji and Kaela about their journey into the palace ruins, with Envoy acting as a translator, and Zoltan looking on … while Remuel, one of Esther's lupine lackeys, listens in. Zoltan and Envoy go to investigate the ruin, to return the "blood rubies", and encounter some more strangeness that emphasizes the magical nature of this predicament.