Page 97 of The Black Citadel

"It shouldn't scrape the inside of your mouth." Her thumb followed a crack in the cup's glaze. "There was someone in the Menagerie who drank tea with dried red berries in it. I could smell it whenever I entered."

"When we return to the Citadel, I'll find some."

Jade's attention settled on me. "You don't have to do that."

"I know."

"Then why would you?"

"Because I would like to know whether you have impossible standards or Dannian makes terrible tea."

"Both can be true."

"They probably are."

Something softened near her mouth before she looked down. Ashter sent a thin coil of smoke around the cup's handle, testing the warmth.

"You can't have any," Jade told him.

It was an ordinary morning, which made it rare enough that I found myself reluctant to end it. Fieldwork had not softened Jade, but it had made the gaps in her defences easier to see . The Citadel file Janus had shown us said nothing about the way she laughed.

I let myself watch her a moment longer than the conversation required, then made myself stop. There were obligations in my life older than this expedition, commitments made on my behalf before I had a say in them, and duty didn't care how easily she laughed at wet animals. No matter how much I was starting to wish otherwise.

Nykos approached with two waterproof route cards.

"The southern overflow marker stopped reporting during the flare last night. Dannian says the readings peaked after midnight and still haven't returned to normal. He wants the channel checked before his people move their observation stations."

"I can go," Jade said.

"You're already assigned," I told her, taking the cards.

Nykos removed the empty cup from her hands and passed it to Alex without looking. Jade watched the exchange and Ashter wind more tightly around her wrist as she retrieved her field pack, making it clear that he had no intention of walking the southern route in solid form.

We left camp several minutes later while the rest of Nephrite divided between the research teams. Nykos remained near the command shelter to coordinate the work. Alex had been assigned to the eastern waterline, where his elemental control made him useful for securing the boats and stabilizing the flooded path. Halver was checking the northern bank in Veylith form.

The southern route should have been the easiest patrol of the morning. It remained close enough to camp that we could hear the researchers behind us, but the island no longer felt the way it had the previous day. The flare had raised the channels without bringing rain, forcing water through hollows that had been dry when we established camp. Blue light moved through the roots beneath the surface, brightening and fading with the same irregular rhythm Dannian's instruments had recorded all week.

Jade checked the terrain without the punishing repetition Halver had described after the trapped Kelvarin. She examined each change, decided whether it mattered and continued. When a silver fish leapt through the flooded grass and struck her boot, she flinched, then watched it disappear with a reluctant smile.