Owen kept an eye on the smoke all morning. The unseen fire didn't appear to be spreading much, but it was still cause for alarm. Around eleven, a second pillar appeared. Owen paced back and forth in his tower, wondering what was going on.
As the day progressed, more and more smoke towers arose in the distance, though they seemed to be getting closer, so perhaps "in the distance" was not quite accurate. Owen wondered if perhaps he was missing the collisions of a dozen meteors every time he looked away, but it was too coincidental to be true. Whatever was causing the fires came from the ground, rather than the sky.
He began to worry that he might need to evacuate the cathedral, both for his own safety and for the safety of anyone who might need his help, if they were willing to accept help from a dinosaur. As much as his instincts were telling him to flee, he reminded himself of what had happened the last time he left the safety of his home, and reconsidered. His heart felt like it was being crushed by an icy hand, yet he kept making excuses to stay put. He was starting to sound an awful lot like Zebil. But it was all for his own safety, of course. Leaving Notre Dame would only make things worse. Even so, he was dying to know what was going on.
In the square, people had begun to whisper, falling silent when guards passed by. Owen wondered if all this had something to do with Zebil, then immediately felt ashamed that he had thought up such a ridiculous idea.
But then he started to listen.
Names and phrases were carried up to him on the wind, which now reeked of ash and stray cinders. Among them was "Zebil", "looking for", "Grady", "burn", and "traitor". Owen decided his master must be looking for Captain Grady, but this did not make any sense in the slightest. There was no reason why the tiger would pursue his head soldier so fiercely, even if he had betrayed him.
And then Owen heard a third name, and suddenly, he knew. He knew even before his fears were confirmed by a particularly loud conversation in the square. When the whisper of "Claire" drifted between the bells, catching his ear, his world shattered. She was in danger.
And it was because he'd helped her escape.