Sable sat down on the floor across from Marina.

Not in a chair, not at a formal distance. On the stone floor, the same level, the same cold surface. Marina noted it as a choice and filed it as the kind of choice that meant something.

Lyra moved to the doorway without being asked. Vael stayed but stepped back. Silvain remained beside Marina with his shoulder close to hers.

Sable looked at the third tablet for a moment. Then she looked at Marina.

"I found a reference to the configuration in the eastern records fourteen years ago," she said. "Not the full description. A notation from one of the original...