The week before the packing team arrived became the final week of the Reliquary as Liora had known it.
She did not realize that at first.
Only later would she look back and recognize that everything had begun to change during those seven days.
The official inventory was finally completed on the second day.
The third day was devoted entirely to condition reports.
The packing team's instructions listed eleven of the forty-three marked artifacts as requiring special handling, and Liora wrote each report with meticulous care.
Not because the official inventory demanded it.
Because she was writing for two records.
One belonged to the Reliquary.
The other belonged only to her.
Her private ledger contained observations the official forms had no place to record.
As she examined each artifact again, another pattern became impossible to ignore.
The older objects all carried shallower marks.
At first she had assumed that was simply because they were older.
It seemed obvious.
