Kaylin was curious what Terrano’s eyes looked like, but chose not to ask, given Serralyn’s vehemence. The word portal, however, caught her attention. She had felt that the parlor’s floor was similar in atmosphere to portal space. If magic caused her arms and skin to ache—or worse—she preferred pain to the nausea portals caused.

“You’re right,” she said quietly. “This space—it’s like a kind of warped portal space. Not all of it—but closer to where the shadows you can’t see are.”

“I can see them,” Terrano said. “I can see the threads of something that looks a bit like a spell—but not like the ones our people generally use. There are places near the paintings that you don’t want to stand.”

The Avatar’s attention was either on Terrano or on what Terrano could see.

“You probably see them as shadows or darkness,” he continued, “because the threads of them aren’t visible to you, but the marks of the Chosen offer a glimpse of what they look like to someone who doesn’t have the right eyes.”

“I can see them through Hope’s wing.”

“Or that.”

“This is some pretty seriously twisted work.” Coming from Terrano, that couldn’t be good. “You said she was Barrani, right?”

“Yes,” the Avatar replied. “She was not like you.”

“Maybe she didn’t start that way,” Terrano replied. “I’m not sure even I could accomplish what she accomplished here.”

“You were not concerned with caging others; you were concerned entirely with your own freedom.”

“And revenge.”

“I do not believe that.”

Terrano shrugged. “Believe what you like.”

“I can hear your thoughts. You make even less attempt to mask them than Lord Kaylin.”

“You better not be listening in when we play chess, Abel.”

Everyone in the hall froze—except the Avatar.

“It is, I am told, a diminutive. A sign of friendship or affection,” the Avatar then said—the Avatar who had not introduced himself by anything remotely resembling a convenient social name.

“It is, from Terrano. Most Barrani consider it rude, with all the fallout that entails.”

“Ah. Mortals do not?”

“Teela calls me kitling all the time, and I’ve yet to be offended.”

Both of Teela’s brows rose. She didn’t humiliate Kaylin by recounting every time Kaylin had, as a teenager, complained about being treated like a child.

The Avatar shocked them all. He laughed out loud. “I am grateful to all of you,” he said. “It has been so long.” The laughter faded. “Have you chosen a painting?”

Terrano nodded. “They all have these...vines, for want of a better word. Can you see how they’re connected to you?”

The Avatar said, “No. I can see what you see. Please continue.”

“You’re a sentient building, and in theory all of this is yours. How can you not see it?” Kaylin demanded.