Page 107 of Cast in Atonement

“So where do the shards come from?”

“That is a question that Azoria did ask. I had no answer to give her that made sense to her as a student.”

“Would it make sense to us?” Serralyn asked.

“It might make sense to Terrano, of all of you—but not without effort, concentration, and some academic focus on his part.”

“So...no.”

Starrante chuckled.

“It is possible that Azoria understood elements of the discussion; she was studious in a way that defines Terrano’s studiousness. But if Bakkon feels that Azoria’s home—or the part of her home that was not the area in which she conducted the majority of her research—had the same air, the same feel, as the birthing place, she had attempted to create a similar environment.”

“You think she thought she could introduce people with True Names to the environment and then consume them somehow?”

“In essence.”

“All of the people in that house were mortals. Dead mortals.”

“So Serralyn has informed us. But you are Chosen, and the cohort is Barrani.”

“She didn’t exactly invite us in.” Kaylin’s frown deepened. “We know she could possess people. She could also influence them magically, possibly by inducing hallucinations. But possessing people isn’t part of the Necromancer kit, or at least not the ones in stories. And it isn’t part of the stories you brought to us.

“Pushing the people who owned those bodies essentially killed them. Until the moment she did that, she could entrap their bodies. She also finally figured out how to entrap the spirits—and transform them. But none of those victims had any hint of a True Name; none of their spirits were the necessary fuel for power that she sought. I’d bet a year’s salary on it.”

“Azoria did not research the names of mortals; she understood—as we all do—that they are born without names. The value of True Names can clearly be seen in their absence; mortals age and wither in a handful of decades. Without the name to sustain them, they have lives akin to the beasts.”

Kaylin tried not to find this offensive. She mostly succeeded.

“It was not of relevance to her research at the time. But she must have done some experimentation in the time between her student years and now. It is clear that she could possess the bodies of mortals when you encountered her. I am far less certain that she possessed the bodies of her own kind in similar fashion.”

Kaylin’s frown deepened. “I’m not certain she didn’t try,” she finally said. “Given the number of dead, trapped Barrani in her private quarters in the High Halls. But she could and did drain all power from their names. I’m not certain that draining power in that fashion empowered her in a permanent way. I mean, I don’t think she was somehow making their names hers; she was simply sucking all life out of them.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“She didn’t build the birthing place in the High Halls. She did have connections to the outlands, but those connections relied on the lack of awareness of the High Halls; it was after the High Halls shut down around the Shadow that had invaded. There was no connection, at that time, to the green. If you’re thinking that she was attempting to create an environment in which True Names could be devoured—by Azoria—and result in a True Name that Barrani bodies were never meant to contain, I agree. I think that’s what she was trying to somehow build.

“She knew True Words could be absorbed into Androsse’s people. She knew that their bodies and her kin’s were almost materially the same. There wouldn’t seem to be a good reason—to Azoria—why she couldn’t become what Androsse himself was.”

Starrante’s eyes swiveled instantly to Androsse, their color far redder.

Androsse’s smile was a thin edge; it almost glittered in the library light.

“What did you tell her?” Starrante demanded, multiple clicks, light stutters, between the Barrani syllables.

Kaylin exhaled. “I take it you lied.”

18

Androsse’s smile deepened. Kaylin had never cared for Arbiter Androsse, and that neutrality crystallized into strong dislike. “I did not lie, Corporal.”

“You led her to believe that your physical bodies were materially the same as a Barrani body?”

“In a broad context, we are. But our construction, as you have clearly guessed, is different. It is a pity that you could intuit this where she could not.”

“I could intuit it because I’ve had to fight your kin before,” she snapped. “And I saw where they fought, and how. They weren’t only rooted in my world; they were rooted across at least three different planes. At the same time.”

“You fought my kin?” The Arbiter’s voice lost its edge. “And you survived? I almost do not believe you.”

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