No answer, no new image, no new words from an unfamiliar voice, came to answer that question.
The Arkon cleared his throat, which gave Kaylin enough time to cover her ears.
The map of the fiefs and the Towers sank, once again, into liquid. The Arkon spoke, and spoke again; the mirror failed to respond. Or it responded in a fashion that she couldn’t see; with this mirror that was possible.
The Arkon did not speak again until they had trudged back through the cavern, the doors, the narrow short hall, and the various private areas. They were surrounded by the office again when he at last spoke.
“The lands that surroundedRavellonwere contaminated by the will of the ruler ofRavellon; their existence as ‘normal’ lands had been heavily compromised. This would include the building nearestRavellon. The Towers were created to anchor those lands, to return them to a base state that those who dwelled in them would recognize, and that Shadow could not as easily manipulate.”
“Corporal Handred?”
Severn, who had said almost nothing since their arrival, nodded. “I concur. I have crossed the borders between many of the fiefs. They are not fixed; they appear so, from the outside, and when one emerges, the streets are very much the streets that would be expected between one step and the next. But the internals shift, sometimes dramatically, sometimes more subtly, when one has taken that step. If the Towers served as anchors for the lands that surroundedRavellon, this would make some sense.”
“And the building you discovered today?”
“The exit, and the building itself, seemed in keeping with the building Kaylin saw in her initial view of the pre-fief period.”
The Arkon didn’t ask Severn how he knew what Kaylin had seen, and Kaylin didn’t bother to explain it. She was a bit surprised because Severn almost never acknowledged the actual connection.
“The placement of the exit was also in keeping with that vision. When I crossed that border, however, I did not see the building in question. I either crossed in a different place—”
“Given the size of the former building’s lands, it would be difficult to miss,” the Arkon countered.
Severn nodded. “Or other forces are at work within the border. I’m inclined to assume the latter.”
“Do you also agree with Corporal Neya’s conclusions?”
“It would not have been my initial guess, but...yes. If Kaylin believes that the Barrani man we met in the building was somehow the Avatar of the building itself, I would give that belief strong weight.”
“Bellusdeo?”
She shrugged, the fief shrug that the rest of the cohort had taken up almost upon their arrival beneath Helen’s roof. “I have far less experience with sentient buildings than any of you. But given their creators, I would guess that destroying them would be difficult if the creators themselves were not responsible for that destruction.
“The building clearly fell off the map that Kaylin’s words invoked when the Towers rose. If it is indeed the same building, the permeability of the border zone might explain how we entered it at all.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“No, sadly, I don’t. I do, however, believe that Kaylin is materially correct. We were in that building. The building itself somehow survived the fall ofRavellonand the creation of the Towers; it surrendered its hold on the lands that it had once stewarded.” She frowned.
So did Kaylin; the expressions were almost a mirror image. “If the lands, if the composition of the lands, changed—were changed—by Shadow or the fall ofRavellon, those lands wouldn’t be the lands the Towers now hold, would they?”
“That, I believe, is an excellent question,” the Arkon replied. Since Kaylin had asked it, he even nodded in her direction. “If it is necessary for you to return, make an appointment.” He then turned his back and headed toward his desk.
It took Kaylin a moment to realize they were all being dismissed. Bellusdeo, however, snorted. “You have not changed at all, Lannagaros.”
“You’re worried about the Arkon,” Kaylin said on the drive home, carriage provided by the palace.
Bellusdeo nodded, although she continued to stare out the open window, as if hoping something would distract her. “He was not himself.”
“You said he never changes, and he seemed pretty normal to me.”
“He failed to ask real questions,” said the person who wasn’t being grilled. “He seemed tense. I feel something is off, something is wrong.”
Kaylin glanced at the Dragon and understood. The Arkon was the only remaining friend from a distant, distant childhood. “Given our luck, we’ll find out what it is soon.”
Helen was at the open doors when Kaylin entered the grounds. With her came Bellusdeo; Severn returned to the Halls of Law to make his report. Kaylin was grateful that he was willing to do it. Of all Hawk activities, the writing of reports was the one she still hated most. Especially given the joy with which their sergeant received them.
Keep an ear out, Kaylin told him.
