A beat. Irhya sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly, letting her hands drop to her sides despite the itch in her fingers. It's bad enough that Midgardsormr stripped her of her gift to begin with, but... perhaps that is precisely where he was coming from.

Well... nowhere to go but up. Literally, in this case.

"Mm. Sorry, I... I suppose I cannot argue that. Let's just keep going. If we can make it out of Thanalan, at least..."

At the top of the hill, footsteps meet them from the other direction, followed by the pattering of a few sets of chocobo feet against the sands. Alphinaud and Pipin meet them, along with a carriage poised for a convenient getaway. At Alisaie's behest, their rescuer explains -- it should figure that everyone seemed to see something was going amiss except the people who really needed to.

It is evident from the time that they board the carriage that Alphinaud is taking this equally as badly. His hood remains over his head, as if he is too ashamed to even show his face to her yet, and he says nothing, lips pressed into a hard, self-reproaching line. She grips the edge of the seat and slumps back as Pipin and the merchant ferrying them to (relative) safety discuss the circumstances that brought them here.

"I'm," she pronounces, "really stupid."