The golden glow of the lantern lit up the polished bronze plates on the larch drafting table. That turned the enameled contour lines of Stonewake and Empty Choir into rivers of gleaming light.
For several minutes, an intoxicating sense of victory warmed the vaulted archive. Fellis was smiling as he sketched the three stepped terraces into his field book. Yseld leaned on her climbing staff with the relaxed stance of an outrider who has sighted the destination ridge. And even Paxa looked visibly relieved, resting her palms on the cool edge of the table. To anyone watching from the threshold, it would have seemed as if their quest were nearly over. It was as if finding the ancient Survey Corps blueprints had placed the key to Alderfast directly into their hands.
Kezra didn’t share their euphoria.
She sat on her oak stool, her eyes fixed on the thick sheaf of handwritten upkeep notes bound into the back of the Stonewake thick parchment folio. Her left thumb traced the dry, yellowed margin of the third building annex. There, Nym Correl had recorded twelve years of district upkeep logs prior to the siege.
As Kezra read, the warm surge of excitement in her blood cooled into sharp, icy earth-measuring reality.
