Aronia made her way back to the vault.
She had to brave all the stairs and hallways down again a second time today.
The High Archivist had given her permission to do whatever she wanted with the artifact, as long as it was in bounds of the expectations of the Archive.
That was good enough for Aronia.
He told her that he considered telling her 'no' but that no wouldn't come from himself, not entirely, so he said yes instead.
And he told her to be careful, which he didn't have to do.
It just wasted time.
It was true that Aronia was interested, but she was an experienced professional.
Careful was what she did.
Neither warden seemed particularly enthusiastic about seeing Aronia again.
"I've been given permission in writing," she said, handing them a few papers, which they didn't need to look at.
Together they unlocked the six separate locks securing Vault Seventeen again.
Aronia prepared herself and whatever she thought she needed for a simple first glance at the artifact.
There were two pieces. At first glance they appeared to be made from glass.
At second glance, they appeared to be metal.
At a third glance, they appeared to be both.
The surfaces reflected light strangely. Not brightly. Not dimly.
They seemed to be pieces of something larger, but whatever they had once been, she couldn't piece it together.
The two that she had couldn't be put together into one larger piece.
She had two puzzle pieces that were too far from each other.
Like Iberis had said, there were no voices or visions. No sudden declarations of doom.
She withdrew a notebook.
Observation One: Artifact composed of two metallic-glass fragments.
Observation Two: Artifact remains inactive during visual examination.
The fragments sat motionless.
Yet the longer she looked at them, the more she became aware of something.
A sort of want, or pull to them. Almost impossible to notice.
It felt like remembering something important and then immediately forgetting what it was.
The sensation vanished whenever she focused directly on it.
Then returned a few moments later.
The feeling shifted with her.
Always present. Always subtle.
A gentle pressure at the edge of awareness.
She reached into a satchel and removed several testing instruments.
A resonance crystal. A thaumic compass. Three enchanted measuring rods.
The first test immediately produced results.
The resonance crystal illuminated.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to indicate magical activity.
The thaumic compass rotated in a slow circle before settling toward the fragments.
Then refusing to move away from them.
Aronia frowned and wrote another note.
'Artifact possesses measurable magical charge.'
Several hours later she progressed to direct interaction.
Carefully.
Very carefully.