"We do not know." 'We' -- Laura's an outsider by design, but there's no chance in Hell she'd just mope around doing nothing. Of course she's already investigated. There isn't exactly a lot of evidence for "a wizard the gods did it" -- that's what people have told her but she's not quite sure it's a hard fact.

"Why are you here?" She means here, specifically, with the trash. She can already see why dumpster diving in Baedal will present more problems than in New York -- there's very little prepackaged, processed food for sale here, almost all of it's fresh produce, which goes bad faster and isn't packaged separately. She's not above scavenging when she has to, but it concerns her nonetheless. "They did not give you money?" In that, Kiden was even more gun-shy than Laura; Laura did not stick around to hear the pitch initially but she went back a few days later after she'd calmed down. It seemed like the easiest way to acquire an initial bit of information. They told her she was supposed to get a job, a mandate she ignored, and they gave her money and the clothes she's wearing now, since her uniform makes her too conspicuous, and she'd like to keep her identity secret for as long as she can. Superhero habit.