The silver leaf lifts from the woven arch. Roots groan apart just wide enough for Alyce and Mara to pass, then begin knitting shut behind them as the first gate yields to Arcadia's outer roads.
They step onto a broad road beneath a violet moon. A smooth black stone rests in its center, polished like still water, yet it reflects neither traveler nor sky.
Within the stone, a distant procession crosses a moonlit bridge. A bound traveler, a young adult human man with a lean build, weathered brown skin, cropped black hair, and a torn gray tunic bound at the wrists, walks among hooded figures, clutching a plainly Human-made pocket watch that flashes bronze in the vision.
The First Unseen Voice
Bring the captive to the Monarchs. The watch is proof enough that the old roads have opened again.
The Second Unseen Voice
Or hide them before the Monarchs learn what crossed into Arcadia. Their attention would scorch every witness on that bridge.
the Brownie woman
That watch is Human, Alyce. This is no harmless memory. The stone is showing us a road that may still be unfolding.
The gate seals with a final wooden snap behind them. In the black stone, the procession pauses at the bridge's far end, while the unseen argument continues beyond the moonlit reflection.