“Against me? No. It was not personal. But she wished to understand many things; she was always inquisitive, and her ability to piece together disparate strands of information was second to none while she lived in the High Halls. She traveled to the Academia, and remained there for some time. I thought she had perhaps found a calling that was larger in all ways than the desire to resurrect her sister.”

“She did not come here,” the Consort said softly, “to resurrect her sister, so perhaps in that regard you are correct.” Her hands bunched in fists. “Or if she did, that was not the story we were told—it is not the story the Lake tells in its mourning.”

Kaylin waited.

“She may have accepted that you could prevent her from reaching the Lake—but the war happened, and the Shadows infiltrated, and you were forced to cage both the Shadow and yourself in the smallest part of the Halls. The protection you afforded the Lake was severely weakened.” She turned to Kaylin. “I believe you could find the Lake. I am always aware of its presence. But at the moment, only those invited into the heart of my personal responsibility can reach it.

“What you found the first time, and what she found when she intruded, are similar. The High Halls could not fully offer the protection it had offered before it imprisoned the great Shadow in the depths of the Tower.” She closed her eyes. “We know that she spent time in the Academia. But we did not have access to those who might have given us information about her studies—the Academia was lost to the rise of the Towers.

“Your discussions with the various denizens of the Academia is far more complete than the brief investigations that were done—and those brief investigations were shut down, and word of the damage done forbidden. Do you understand why?”

Kaylin nodded. “You were afraid that someone with similar ambitions might follow the same paths Azoria had walked, and do the same damage.”

“Yes. She entered the Lake—we know not how, although some acquaintance with the friends you shelter within your home suggests possible answers. Your friends were changed by their experience in the green, and they changed themselves while imprisoned in the Hallionne Alsanis. She was not likewise imprisoned, and she was not likewise exposed to the regalia at too early an age—but perhaps you have suggestions or suspicions of your own.

“Regardless, she appeared at the edge of the Lake; she injured the Consort of the time. The defenses inherent in the Lake rose to protect the Consort, her blood mingling with the words, as if that was always the intruder’s intent.