The cold of the stone chamber would not permit sleep. Elara had no idea how much time had passed since Arius disappeared into the darkness beyond. Orion sat with his back against the wall, knees raised, his chin resting on his arms, but his breathing was already deep and regular. His glasses had slipped slightly. Her hand reached out to adjust them, then stopped. She didn't want to wake him. Elara spread the parchment across her lap and thinly applied earth-mark ink to the index finger of her left hand. The torch flame illuminating the stone chamber flickered slightly. The patterns covering the walls seemed to sway and undulate at the boundary between light and shadow. Elara pressed her fingertip to the crescent-shaped pattern on the map. ——Respond. The sensation was different from usual. Not the pulse-like feeling of the earth that came when the earth-mark ink resonated, but something from deeper within. Something close to warmth. (Grandmother.) It was not language. It was not