"Why not? Are not the quarters he shared with your father as his chrání the perfect position for such a gateway? Your father cannot enter the temples without alerting the Raziq to his presence, and the Raziq cannot enter your father's rooms. Nor would they even think to look there, given they do not think the Aedh a threat."
"I wonder if that's the reason he left the coordinates of that warehouse. It wasn't so much the coordinates here on Earth that mattered, but the positioning on the fields."
"It is possible, although that would mean there is a gateway somewhere in that warehouse."
I jumped up. "We'd better go investigate —"
He caught my hand. "It would be useless to do so because we have not the means to get in or out of your father's rooms."
I frowned. "But if we find the gateway, it will take us into them."
"Yes, but the private residences of the Aedh within the temple areas are all shielded. You cannot get in or out without the correct means of doing so."
"Fuck it, why can't something be simple in this damn quest?"
"Because that is not the way of your world or mine." His voice held a slightly bitter edge. "However, your father said he was creating a means by which you could freely access his rooms. Perhaps you should check if anything has been left at your home while we were away."
"That means going back through the damn tunnel. And risking the sorcerer coming here when we're gone."
"That is a risk, yes."
Great. Damned if we did, and damned if we didn't. I bit my lip, then half shrugged. "I guess we just have to take the chance."
"We are right in this, Risa. I'm sure of it."
I wasn't, especially given lady luck hadn't been all that generous to us to date. Still, what else could we do? It was either stay here – and risk losing her – or chase down our theory and hope like hell we were right. And at least with the latter, we were actually doing something.
Even if it ultimately proved to be the wrong something.