Once there, Dev stepped inside the space, which seemed to be in much better condition than the great room. He eagerly lifted the cover off the box and searched through it. But its contents were disappointing. One by one Dev pulled out several fairly useless, heavy knickknacks that seemed to be of little value, though they each were engraved with a diamond-shaped symbol containing the letter S. Probably for Suresh, Dev surmised. No wonder no one had stolen these—it wouldn’t have been worth the weight to lug them around, and everyone would have known they were stolen from a ruler.

Dev put everything back in the box, but then he paused and removed an old beer stein that seemed like it could be useful for him to drink out of. In addition to the diamond S symbol, it had an unusual engraving on it that he liked. The engraving was a quote, written with curly letters in the same language he’d seen in the books left open on the big desk in the library. He couldn’t read the quote, but it felt important.

Dev turned to the small desk and ran his hand over the smooth surface. Then he opened the narrow drawer, expecting it to be empty. To his surprise, lying flat inside it was a small stack of sketches and paintings. On top was a watercolor of a little girl. The painting had once been quite colorful but had faded over time. As Dev studied her, his scales prickled and a few of the images flashed in front of his eyes. This was someone important, he thought. Important to him.

Carefully Dev checked the rest of the drawers, finding them disappointingly empty. He rolled the stack of drawings and slid them into the mouth of the stein, then painstakingly made his way back to the stairwell on the boards. He untied the rope and gathered up the boards, then descended the stairs with his new possessions. He returned the boards and rope to the foundry and went back to the library.

With his beer stein and the art pieces in hand, Dev sat down at the huge desk. He gazed at the etching on the stein, then paged through the big book on the desk to see if he could match up the words. When nothing jumped out at him, he pushed the book aside and looked through the sketches and paintings. He went back to the first one, which was the best of the lot, and smoothed it out to study it. It was simple: The girl stood outside with trees behind her. Soon Dev realized with a start that the backdrop of the sketch was the flourishing orchard. This little girl wasn’t a random painting bought on a whim at the market. She had been sketched not far from here. Perhaps she’d even lived here—that made the most sense. And Ashguard, or someone, had commissioned her painting. Dev knew all about such things. Shanti had had her portrait done every year around her birthday, and she’d hated it because it took so long to do. She always made Dev accompany her to keep her entertained, which was exhausting for him because she was so cranky.