After the storm passed, the cart moved for some time as the road curved away from the mesas and into a stretch of flat blackstone. The only variation in the landscape was the occasional numbered post marking the approach to a settlement.
Alucent was holding the Anchor Ring between his thumb and forefinger when the first buildings came into view, revealing a numbered post driven into the stone with S-14 stamped into the brass. Behind it stood structures of identical height and width, all possessing that particular grey of reinforced stone common to every work-settlement since the border. There were no gates and no signs bearing a name. Inside the perimeter, the workers moved between the buildings in patterns Alucent recognized from the forge floors, placing each step without wasted motion as though they were parts of a precisely calibrated machine.
Just as the morning light shifted, he saw the child.
She stood just past the perimeter marker at the settlement's edge. She was perhaps eight or nine years old, and she wore a station-worker's grey tunic that swallowed her small frame. The fabric was stained with mineral dust, and her hair had been cut short and unevenly. She watched the cart pass with a vacant, fixed stare, and when the light caught her right hand, Alucent's breathing abruptly stopped.
The skin at her fingertips had taken on a faint turquoise luminescence, which was the exact same impossible hue as the moon. Where the morning light hit her knuckles, tiny crystalline structures had already begun to emerge from the joints.
The Beautification in its earliest stages... The Waros feed on emotion and memory, leaving a residue in living tissue that results in a slow crystallization... Once the process reaches the bone, it cannot be reversed without Runepeaks-grade counter-inscription work... Alucent quickly recalled the relevant mystical knowledge as a heavy sensation pressed down on his chest. The child stood at the edge of the settlement with crystal growing through her fingers, yet her expression remained completely calm, appearing as though she could no longer feel pain.
Alucent instinctively looked toward Joy and the others. Can't we stop and help the kid?
Before he could speak, Joy said with an unperturbed expression, "We cannot stop."
She sat with her hands folded in her lap and her shoulders straight against the cushioned bench, maintaining a professional and cold composure.
Without turning her head, she calmly explained, "The surveillance infrastructure. Sir Vorn's briefing was specific on this point. Eloha's network watches the main road through Voidshard-embedded monitoring. If we make an unscheduled stop this close to a settlement, it flags us immediately."
After pausing for a moment, her blue eyes stayed on the child as she continued, "She needs a facility that can address Waros crystal formation. This requires Runepeaks-grade tools and practitioners who know the counter-inscription work. We cannot provide this on a roadside in two minutes. Stopping would flag us without helping her."
The logic is complete and flawless... Firstly, Sir Vorn's briefing confirms that the surveillance network is active. Secondly, stopping near a settlement triggers an immediate flag from the Voidshards. Thirdly, we lack the specialized tools to actually treat the Beautification... Alucent silently did the calculations in his mind as he looked at the members of his team.
Gryan's right hand had closed into a fist on his knee, and the brass fingers of his left arm curled tight against his chest. He did not turn from the window, appearing as though he were forcing himself to stay still. Across from them, Raya kept her arms crossed with her jaw set tight, her gaze fixed on the child until the road curved and the settlement was completely gone.
Raya's hand rested on the hilt of her Weaveblade as her shoulders pulled tight with a stillness that was clearly not calm, but she did not cry.
Gryan kept his fist closed on his knee for a long time before his fingers finally and slowly uncurled.
After a moment of silence, Alucent reached into the pouch at his belt and touched the Journal's cover. He did so with the specific intent of writing ordinary notes, hoping the item would understand his intentions and not awaken. As a predatory yet symbiotic artifact that called him Scion, it seemingly respected his wishes. The leather remained cool under his fingers, and the micro-runes stayed completely dark.
This was the first time he was using it as a normal notebook. Opening it to a crisp, unmarked page near the back, he wrote in the cramped hand he typically used when the cart was moving.
We kept moving.
He looked at the words for a moment before continuing to write below them.
S-14. A child with crystal on her right hand. Eight years old approximately. Grey uniform, three sizes wrong. She was watching the road.
The Iron Vale does not log children with crystal at their fingertips. It only logs variance, acceptable loss, and the precise tonnage of ore extracted per shift... By logging this, the Journal holds the truth. In a system designed to erase these details, the sheer existence of this record is a form of resistance... Alucent silently evaluated the meaning of his actions as he dated the entry.
He then cleanly closed the Journal and returned it to his pouch.
As the cart rolled on, the road stretched endlessly north. The river kept its own counsel while the shadows still fell at the wrong angles in the light of a moon that should not have been visible, and as Alucent rubbed his brow, he felt that the pressure behind his eyes had not fully faded. He looked out at the road ahead, which seemingly remembered their passing.