Page 401

"A building."

"Maybe."

"Something magical."

Nyra exhales. "Maybe." Helpful.

"What have you checked?" Nyra gestures toward the floor. Everything. Apparently. I pick up the nearest book. A Historical Survey of Varethia and Its Territories. Nothing. Another. Foundations of the Six Kingdoms. Nothing. Academy history. Nothing. Old ward theory. Nothing. Council governance. Nothing.

"Not one mention?"

"Not in anything modern."

"How modern?"

"Last century."

That makes me look up. "Nothing?"

"Nothing." Nyra reaches for another paper. "But I found this." Different handwriting. Different document. I read. The procession proceeded eastward as tradition required, concluding at the boundary stones where blessings were offered for Varethia and its Heart.

I frown. "Blessings."

"Yes."

"So religious?"

"Maybe."

"But the first one talks about instability."

"I know."

"Could still be symbolic."

"I know."

"You hate this."

"Deeply." I smile. Nyra starts rearranging papers. "I thought it might be an old name for the Academy."

"Doesn't work."

"I know."

"The Academy isn't Varethia."

"Exactly."

"Maybe the village?"

"Then why Heart?"

"People name things stupidly."

"Not helpful."

"I'm trying." I pick up another copied ledger. Nothing. Another. Nothing. A trade record. Nothing.