He still prayed, every day, to his gods and his family's guardian spirits, and he'd made a special appeal to Neptune when the first village was plagued by earthquakes, but he wasn't a priest or an augur, and he didn't know how to tell whether the gods were present or not.

"I had not thought about that, that the gods could be exiled here."

He studied her more closely, curious at the knowledge she showed about the spiritual world that had always been so present to him before this place. He shook his head, holding out one hand, palm to the sky. "I am no priest and know little of magic, but it seems that you know more of the gods than most people I have met here."