I watched the sprites move around the cauldrons, their small bodies weaving strands of flame that curved and folded like threads of glass. A flurry of activity arose as the sprites flittered faster, and I tried to calculate what was happening.
A thin distortion caught my eye at the rim of the third cauldron. It slid between the etched runes and disappeared.
Someone was drawing from it.
I watched the flame sprites scurry between cauldrons.
They knew the Flame Ward was under attack and were harvesting the memories to keep them safe.
The sprites worked carefully, pulling heat and flame from the stored memories in slow, controlled increments. It almost looked like they were siphoning water from barrels. It was slow enough that nothing was lost, steady enough to keep things going.
My stomach tightened at the sight of it.
The thin thread pulsed once, tightening slightly, as if it knew I had noticed.
The sprites flared brighter in response. Their movements grew quicker as they tried to compensate.
“No,” I whispered.
I stepped closer to the cauldron. The heat grew stronger with every step, and when I laid my hand over the flame, warmth spread across my palm. The etched sigils trembled faintly beneath my touch, and the memory forge pulled again.
The sensation was stronger this time as the liquid flame inside the cauldron dimmed by the slightest shade, but something brushed the inside of my mind.
The reaction didn’t come from the cauldron itself. It came from whoever was guiding the probe.
The Priestess.
She didn’t announce herself. She didn’t have to. The precision of the touch made it clear enough.
She wasn’t trying to break the Ward.
She was studying it and drawing just enough power to see how the structure responded without forcing the Academy to fully defend itself.
And just as carefully, she was watching to see whether the sprites would notice…whether I would notice.
The realization sent a chill through me that had nothing to do with the heat in the room.
“She’s measuring,” I murmured.
The flame tightened again, so slightly I might have missed it if I hadn’t been watching.
For an instant, something brushed the back of my thoughts. It wasn’t a voice and it wasn’t quite a feeling either.
You see it.
The words never formed clearly, but the meaning settled in all the same.
You see what I’m doing.
I closed my eyes for a moment and drew in a slow breath, willing my pulse to steady despite the heat burning beneath my skin.
I can do far more.
My eyes opened, and I followed the distorted line. It didn’t stretch beyond the Ward or anchor somewhere outside it. Instead, it curved inward, slipping into the deeper seam where the Academy’s magic joined the perimeter defenses.
She wasn’t just siphoning heat.
She was mapping the structure.
