The chamber settles around the uncovered slate. Dust drifts through the pale light, parchment curls softly, and faint water murmurs beyond the eastern wall.
Seren lays Hadrik’s account between them without touching the hidden bundle again. Below, Tarin remains in the lower ravine, watching the crossing from his promised distance.
Seren Vale
Ashen Ford is an old water crossing, half swallowed by ash-colored silt. Hadrik believed Veyra’s people used it to move those who carried knowledge away from her work.
Seren Vale
What I fear finding is not a camp or a cache. It is someone who was made useful, then abandoned when they stopped being useful.
She turns the account so its final line faces Mara. The ink names no prisoner, but several passages have been scraped away, leaving the parchment fibers rough.
Seren Vale
Hadrik may have gone there to hide evidence, rescue someone, or learn whether Veyra was still searching. I will follow, but not trespass blindly.
Seren Vale
Tell me what boundaries should guide us. What may we examine, whom may we approach, and what must we leave untouched if the trail leads farther?