Page 136 of The Fifth Heir

“Then what will it do?”

“Require the academy to determine what she is before she enters another Trial.”

“She manifested living dragon scale.”

“One transparent scale with no known element.”

“The academy has already ordered daily examinations.”

“Observation is not identification.”

I looked toward the window.

Crown Tower rose above the lower academy buildings. The Fifth Wing could not be distinguished from the outside. Its windows appeared only from within, another impossibility no review had explained.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

“Firsthand confirmation.”

“Of what?”

“Whether the official reports accurately describe her abilities.”

“They do.”

“Did she redirect Torren’s fire during the assessment?”

“I didn’t see the initial turn clearly.”

“Did she control the central nexus?”

“She interpreted it.”

“That is not control.”

“She established communication between four sealed paths and coordinated our return.”

“Through the torc?”

“Through the Trial channels.”

“Did those channels respond before or after she touched them?”

I thought of Talia kneeling in the center rune. Clear light moved beneath her hands whenever she changed connections.

“After.”

“Did her torc react to one elemental source?”

“I don’t know.”

“The scale refracts all elemental colors.”

“It refracts light.”

“Does the torc?”

“It carried all four colors when the First Trial opened.”