The canyon made a second sunrise beneath the road.
Iven stopped on the upper walk as light entered the gray air below. A warm vent had lifted a pale column through the stagnant layer. Sun struck the moisture at its edge and broke into a thin ring of color, trembling around an empty center. For a moment, the road’s shadow crossed the ring like the hand of an enormous clock.
Then the wind moved it and the colors vanished.
Leth kept walking.
“Pretty doesn’t mean safe.”
“I know.”
“People like to hear it twice when the air does that.”
Iven smiled and followed him toward the western observation station. Neri came behind with the measurement case, keeping the long drawing roll clear of the rail.
