When Dyeawan realized such an idea was absurd, it occurred to her that it might actually be a gift, from Edger or perhaps Tahei. It never occurred to her, however, to find the notion of somebody, or somebodies, sneaking into her room while she sleeps disquieting; she’s spent most of her short life on the streets of the Capitol. The idea of privacy or sacred space is unknown to her.

Pulling the loose end of the ribbon, the cloth fell away to spill dozens upon dozens of small, intricately carved wooden pieces over her blanket. They appeared identical, rectangles with forked ends, but Dyeawan quickly noticed tiny differences in their cut. She picked up one of the pieces and examined it closer, then another. When she fit them together it was like a lightning crack between her temples. Dyeawan looked down at the pile of wood and saw with her mind’s eye what they could be, and what they should be.

She began picking up piece after piece and slotting them together. It took her less than a minute to assemble all the pieces into one object, a full-bodied wooden star that could stand on its own when she placed it back down atop the blanket.

Dyeawan stared at that star for a long time in silence, marveling at how so many seemingly complete parts could compose such a whole when properly joined together. She supposed it was meant to represent some aspect of the Planning Cadre itself, and wondered if that was the lesson to take away from it.

She’d climbed out of bed and onto her tender to begin her day. She delivered messages and parcels and materials between the concentric floors of the Cadre. She took her meals in the great hall, eating with Riko and Tahei, never mentioning the strange puzzle.

On the few occasions she’d crossed paths with Edger, not a word was exchanged about it.

When Dyeawan returned to her room in the evening, the wooden cipher was gone. That night she dreamed of a sky whose stars she could reach up and rearrange with her bare hands, forming magnificent shapes and patterns that she made swirl and shine by touching each star with her fingertip. The dream lasted all night, and by morning she’d created a vast heaven of wheels and mandalas and triangles that somehow all fit and moved together like a great, brilliant machine of pure light.

When she awoke, large sheets of parchment covered the blanket over her legs. She sat up and reached for them. One of them was colored from corner to corner with a beautiful drawing of a building much like the Capitol Spectrum, surrounded by city streets and foliage, none of which Dyeawan recognized. It must’ve been a scene from another Crachian city, or perhaps even something new for a city yet to be built.