I'm thinking Kal's secret has something to do with the reason he's never been intimate with anyone in his entire life. It's something he's ashamed of, or something he's not capable of but doesn't dare to tell anyone about, or something along those lines.
And Corrina, I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the more typical causes of desertification, which are mostly anthropogenic, even though they can't be caused by a single person: overgrazing, over-cultivation, increased fire frequency, water impoundment, deforestation, overdrafting of groundwater, increased soil salinity, ... Sounds about right to me for a barren world populated by a bunch of desperate new colonists. I do believe in the theory that Nor might have been encouraging these things somehow, though, even if I have no idea how that would serve him.
I have no idea what to do about any of those, either, but I guess at least it's better than the idea that the planet might be losing its atmosphere altogether...
