Ryn wasn't supposed to be there.
The Crucible's initiation ceremony was a closed event — clergy and candidates only, held in the inner sanctum of the Crucible Hall, witnessed by Cardinals, administered by the Pope. Academy students didn't attend. Academy students heard about it afterward, in theology lectures, described in the careful, sanitized language of institutional documentation.
Thresh had found the gallery.
"Construction access," the Kobold whispered, his amber eyes sharp with the particular excitement of someone committing a minor infraction and enjoying it thoroughly. "The restoration crew left the scaffolding up in the east transept. There's a viewing gap between the second and third tarps. If we're quiet—"
"If we're caught—"
"Then we'll say we were studying architecture. I'm a Kobold. We study architecture recreationally."
