The visitor arrived on foot, alone, three weeks after Ronan's discovery in the library — a detail that struck Jasmine as deliberate the moment the fortress watch reported it. No one traveled to Liora's gates alone and on foot unless they wanted to appear harmless, and Jasmine had learned, at considerable cost, to be suspicious of anyone who wanted to appear anything at all. The watch had held her at the outer gate for nearly an hour, verifying she carried no weapons and no obvious ill intent before allowing word to reach the fortress proper.

"She says her name is Maren," the guard captain reported, "and that she represents an...