Ilia followed Vex through a narrow tunnel that smelled of damp stone and iron filings. The air was cold and close, and her soaked boots squelched with every step.
"Where are we?" she asked, brushing moss from the wall as they turned yet another sharp corner.
"A place no one looks," he replied. "Not anymore."
Eventually, the tunnel opened into a wide chamber lit by dull, wall-mounted lanterns. It was part wine cellar, part war room. Maps hung from clothespins. Shelves sagged with old tomes and glass jars full of dark liquid. A broken grandfather clock ticked nervously in the corner.
A woman was waiting.
She stood by the table, her pale hands clasped behind her back, dark sleeves rolled up to the elbow. Her face was sharp as a quill.
"You're late," she said, not looking at them.
"I was being chased by half the city guard," Ilia muttered.
"You brought them to the plaza."
Ilia scowled. "You try arguing with a man wielding a sermon and a megaphone."
"Enough." The woman turned. Her eyes, silver and unblinking, landed on Vex. "Is she ready?"
"She passed the Ascendancy."
"That proves memory and logic. I asked if she's ready."
Ilia stepped forward. "You could just ask me."
The woman's gaze flicked back to her. "Then answer."
Ilia hesitated, then said: "I don't know. But I didn't come this far to play fetch."
The woman studied her. Then, to Vex: "Show her."
With a grunt, Vex crossed to a crate and removed a wrapped object. He unrolled the cloth, revealing a tablet—flat, metallic, with faint glyphs running along its edge. When Ilia stepped closer, the glyphs pulsed faintly in response to her presence.
"It's Shadari tech," she whispered.
"Not just Shadari," said the woman. "Look closer."
Ilia did—and saw that the glyphs weren't etched but grown, as if printed from some living material.
"That's… not legal," she said slowly.
"Neither are half the things you'll be asked to do."
Ilia looked up. "Is this the mission?"
"No," the woman said. "This is the warning."
A silence fell.
Then footsteps sounded behind them.
Ilia turned to see someone descending the narrow stairs. The silver-haired stranger from the protest.
"You!" she said. "Snow-cone man."
"I prefer Rien, actually," he said, still grinning. "Good to see you made it. Nice punch back there."
Vex gave him a sour look. "You followed us?"
"I was told to keep an eye on the girl," Rien replied, offering Ilia a mock bow. "Didn't expect her to start a riot."
"I didn't start it," Ilia muttered. "I just… redirected it."
The woman at the table raised a hand. "Enough. You all know your parts—Ilia more than she realizes. The Council thinks the last tablet was destroyed. We need to deliver this before the Equinox. After that, nothing holds."
"Deliver to where?" Ilia asked.
The woman smiled faintly. "You'll know it when you see it."
Ilia exhaled. Somewhere between the Lyceum and here, she had crossed an invisible line. There was no going back.
And part of her didn't want to.