Caldris stood at the console with the three seal slots, one lit and two dark, and spoke without being asked.
“The lock will not open on Hearth’s seal alone,” she said.
Mara waited.
“I want to be clear about something,” Caldris said. “Before we go further. Before the Board answers, or Anwen reads her figure, or anyone finds the guild’s representative.” Her voice was even. “You may be thinking that I could fill a slot. That an auditor of the Compact holds seals. That I could carry a second seal into the well, and we would be one short instead of two.”
Mara had been thinking it. She kept quiet.
“I hold no seal the well will accept for a lamp’s gate,” Caldris said. “Or a forge. Or the guild.” She looked at the dark slots. “My seals are the Compact’s. The well was built before the Compact. It does not recognize them. My maintenance seal for Hearth’s bridge was revoked by the Custodian at Hearth, as you saw. The others the well never knew.” A pause. “I will not be the one to carry a second seal into the well, because I have none it will take.”
She folded her hands on the slate.
