Page 111 of Cast in Atonement

“Kitling.”

Kaylin glanced at Teela, but Teela had turned to Larrantin. “Corporal Neya is substantially correct. While I would be in favor of making the inquiries you suggest, they do not address the safety of a second excursion. The most helpful information or suggestions you might offer would be those that focus on the environment. We understand that we are dealing with guesswork, but given the minds involved in those guesses, we will treat the information with respect.”

“You cannot assume that Mrs. Erickson is not fundamentally part of the design,” Larrantin replied, obviously displeased.

“How, then, does the answer to that question aid us in determination of the possible threats?” Teela did not back down.

The chancellor watched them both.

“It is possible that the entire space is, or was, a work in progress. Understand that Azoria was not master of her experiments—by nature, experiments deal with the unknown. I believe Bakkon and Serralyn have a way to enter only the laboratory, bypassing the hall entirely. Were I to join them, I would focus on that.

“The notes that Azoria kept there might answer some of the questions we now have.” He then turned from Teela to the chancellor. “If our opinions matter in your decision, that would be my choice. If, of course, Serralyn is willing.”

Serralyn looked to the chancellor. He nodded, as if the glance was a request for permission to speak.

She cleared her throat. “This is what I understand. The hall was built, in part, on the detritus of a fallow hatching space. It’s possible that it was created as an attempt to kill those who possessed True Names in order to devour those names and make them part of her own name going forward.

“If such a space wasn’t to collapse once the partial names became a full one, she needed a way to keep that space open. I think—and I’m not a scholar or an expert—the power to do that was rooted in the outlands. I’m uncertain that the power that came from the green was used for that purpose. If it was woven into the structure of her home, and its purpose was to grow plants that couldn’t be grown outside of the green, it shouldn’t be dangerous for those of us who aren’t plants.”

“Unless the green is aware of the intrusion,” Androsse said. “If Azoria was foolish enough to create such a connection, she was doubtless wise enough to obscure or hide it.”

“Not all enchantments end with the death of their creators.”

“No. But the green is wild, unpredictable, and dangerous. Were I to attempt what she attempted, it would require constant supervision.”

“Would you have attempted it?”

“No. None of my kin would have dared. The green is quiet now; it is contained. But in our time, it was a wild, dangerous force. There is no guarantee that it will not or could not become such a threat again. I see no advantage to such a connection. The anger of the green was not easily assuaged. The world has changed, and perhaps that is no longer the case.”

“Evanton said the Keeper’s garden had been disturbed,” Serralyn replied. Her voice was soft, her tone hesitant. “But that disturbance began before Azoria’s death. If her attempt to hide the connection relied on being alive, that disturbance wouldn’t have been felt so strongly in the garden.”

Androsse’s nod was reluctant.

“But the dead Ancient in the outlands, and the persistent connection to that location, seems the more likely cause. If she had discovered the Ancient recently, she may have focused all of her effort on somehow subsuming the Ancient’s power. None of us understand how that power works. All we know is that it could change the world. If she interfered somehow with that, and she strengthened the channel between her home and the corpse...” Serralyn waited for interruption. There wasn’t any.

“Evanton vanished when he touched the portal that existed between the manse and the outlands. But the Ancient in the outlands, according to Kaylin, wasn’t inactive. The Ancient considered themselves dead—but dead people don’t speak and interact in a purely physical way. Kaylin broke the bindings around the Ancient’s corpse the day Azoria died.

“I think the changes, the instability, in Azoria’s home are entirely due to the Ancient, or what’s left of the Ancient. And I think Azoria wanted Mrs. Erickson desperately because she felt if she possessed Mrs. Erickson’s body, she could command the Ancient for as long as Mrs. Erickson’s body survived.”

Kaylin frowned and lifted a hand.

Serralyn immediately turned to her, obviously relieved.

“Azoria kidnapped children—and killed them so she could use their bodies. She was desperately trying to find something that had, I believe, been given to Mrs. Erickson’s mother. Some piece of jewelry. She didn’t limit herself to children, but her attempt to use their bodies usually ended up in the bodies being executed. Before you ask, no, I have no idea where that item might be found. I suspect she meant it to somehow enhance her control of Mrs. Erickson.

“Since that didn’t happen, her plans were stymied. But while Mrs. Erickson remained alive, she still had some hope she could find the item.”

“Have you searched for it?”

“When I don’t know exactly what it was? I suspect, as I said, it was jewelry, and it’s quite possible it was pawned. Her family wasn’t exactly rolling in money. Mrs. Erickson doesn’t recall it, and it’s very possible it was never worn. But Azoria was trying to find it using enchantments and compulsion very recently.”

“Attempt to find it,” Androsse said quietly. “If Mrs. Erickson was the linchpin of this plan, it might tell us what we need to know about the current iteration of Azoria’s halls.”

Kaylin shook her head. “The current iteration of her halls is the Ancient. And possibly, through the construction, the green. But the halls were changing as we ran out of them. I’m almost certain that the changes were imposed at a distance by what remains of the Ancient. It’s what the chancellor suspects.”

The chancellor raised a brow in Kaylin’s direction.

“Am I wrong?”

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