They divided the posts according to distance and the steady hands each reflector needed.
Chaska took the first navigation mirror and walked back up the main gallery with Lilt padding closely behind her. The upper turn near the cave mouth was the longest throw and caught the bitterest wind off the snowfield; Lilt’s bulk could shelter Chaska’s back from the draft while she angled the small glass disk to catch the glare off the outer Stormglass ridge.
Ashaun took the second post at the wide bend just above the chamber of mineral flowers. Because she had the tin kettle lid, which was wider but scattered the beam more easily, she sat with her back wedged into a dry niche, tucked the rolled edge of the lid into the crook of her translucent left stone forearm, and used her good right hand to tilt it by fractions of an inch. That way, she said, her arm wouldn’t cramp after ten minutes and drop the sun into the mud.
Osha stationed herself at the third bend, below the hanging mineral blooms where the tunnel dropped sharply toward the lower vents. She had the second glass navigation mirror—borrowed from Chaska because the bend was tight and needed a crisp beam to thread between two low stalactites without heating the delicate stone petals overhead. She left her heavy archive case tucked beside the wall and knelt on her folded cloak with two pebbles ready beside her knee.
