“What was the book about?”

“A ceremony,” Serralyn replied. “An old ceremony.” She hesitated and then said, “An Ancestral ceremony.”

Silence eddied out, as if it were a large stone dropped into a pool of conversation.

It was Kaylin who broke it. “What, exactly, was the ceremony meant to achieve?”

“It was, in form and function, a type of joining.”

“A wedding ceremony?”

Serralyn shook her head. “Marriage in modern terms was not a concept held in much favor by the Ancestors.”

“Then joining what?”

“The green,” she replied. “Although that is not what it was called by the Ancestors—it took me a bit to understand that. I don’t know that Dragons had Ancestors the way the Barrani do, but Kavallac understood the difference. She attempted to explain it, but only when I asked. It’s thought that the green extended much farther, in the time of the Ancestors, than it does now; I believe the Ancestors may have somehow destroyed or despoiled it. What remains in the West March is the heart of what it once was.”

Kaylin turned to the Avatar.

“If you mean to confirm whether or not the green existed when the Ancestors ruled much of the continent, yes it did. It is older than the Hallionne. It is older than the High Halls. In the distant past, the Ancestors could speak to the green, and the green would answer—but not in a language that the Barrani can understand. Some can intuit meaning; the green hears them in ways that do not entirely involve simple linguistics.”

Serralyn listened as if the Avatar’s words were now the only relevant words in the room.

Kaylin, however, had the answer to her question and wanted to move on. “So this was a ceremony developed by the Ancestors—Androsse’s people.”

“By some of his people, yes. Understand that while the Barrani and their Ancestors share an appearance, they are fundamentally different peoples. The Ancestors were frequently unstable in a way the Barrani are not.” He then turned to Serralyn. “I believe similar rites exist among the Barrani.

“These rites were tied to the regalia, and you are far more aware of the dangers inherent in that ceremony; it is one of the few that survived the twilight of the Ancestors.”

“Azoria was Barrani,” Kaylin pointed out.

“So, at one point, was Terrano,” the Avatar countered.

“You do not consider him Barrani now?” the Consort asked.

“No, Lady. He considers himself Terrano; the race and circumstance of his birth, given the utter callousness with which his forebears approached the regalia, are of less value to him. Regardless of external designations, it is possible that Azoria exposed herself to environments, rituals, or races that could subtly undermine the cage of her creation. If she spent much time in the company of Arbiter Androsse, she may have first attempted to re-create herself in his image.

“Thus her disastrous attempt to take over the Lake.”