The harmony with the crystal cavern, once established, did not remain a secret wonder. It seeped into the very soil of The Wellspring, becoming a part of its daily rhythm. The miners, once skeptical of anything that couldn't be measured with a caliper or broken with a pick, now spoke of the mountain's "mood" based on the faint, almost imperceptible hum that sometimes vibrated up through the soles of their boots. The Aethelburgers, for their part, began to incorporate the deep, stable note Corvin had found—the Mountain's Note—into their evening harmonies, weaving it into their songs like a foundational bass line.
This new awareness made them attuned to other, subtler songs of their home, including the ones that were off-key.
