The Ascension Tower stood on the north lawn where the fortress platforms had been, black and narrow and so tall that its top was lost in low cloud. It hadn't been there two days ago. Seraphina had watched the Academy's engineers raise it overnight from a single seed-stone the size of a fist, and she still didn't entirely believe in it.
A hundred and twenty climbers gathered at its gate in the early afternoon. Valerie read the rules from the steps.
