Taira recognized the voice calling out to him before he even turned back to face it.
His gaze remained firmly affixed on Shakti as she continued to sleep.
"Done hiding in plain sight now, are we..?"
"… So you know."
"I do."
"You're upset."
"There are a laundry list of things that have upset me on this night, and your identity is at the very bottom."
Yem fiddled with the rings on her thin fingers.
She intruded into the room warily- with Vermeil and Lucia mere inches behind her.
"…Do you believe in gods, Taira?"
The line of questioning was unexpected for Taira.
Even before he had ever learned about his world's deities being cultivators, he had never been a man of faith. Perhaps this came from his mother, who taught him the greatest belief he could harbor was in himself.
