“Well, that doesn’t sound so terrible.” He mentally slapped himself. That hadn’t come out at all the way he’d meant it to. “I mean, if Relos Var approves, of course. It would be a way to learn much quicker, so I can’t see why he’d object. I would ask you a favor, though.”

“Name it.”

“Find a way to check on Janel? I worry about her. This … this can’t be easy on her.”

“Possibly not, but she’s made of metal.” Thurvishar nodded. “Still, I’d be happy to look in on her.”

“Thank you.” With that, Brother Qown set about finishing the meal.

Thurvishar had been right; studying the artifact proved much easier when he didn’t have to worry about everything moving. He could even take a break, go make himself tea, and return to his observations while his subject only moved the most minute amount.

Thurvishar proved to be an excellent study partner too. He was quiet, kept to himself, and rarely interrupted, usually because he’d returned from the kitchen with tea or that thick black coffee so popular in Khorvesh. The lighthouse proved livable and secure, and although Brother Qown knew he’d have to return to Yor for baths and sleeping, it felt very much like being back at the library at the Temple of Light.

He quickly learned Relos Var had been wrong about the stone being drawn to fire. In fact, Worldhearth focused on heat, and it didn’t matter if the object in question burned at all. The difficulty lay in the fact objects only stood out by temperature in comparison to their surroundings. Two objects of the same temperature appeared as mingled, inseparable. So although he could target people by their body heat, it meant hopping from person to person, one by one. Finding the right person could take weeks.

But not everyone existed at the same temperature.

He fine-tuned the control, which allowed him to search for people who ran hotter than those around them. This included Janel, at that very moment eating breakfast, and Relos Var, who ran much hotter, so much so Qown suspected he could locate the man anywhere. Indeed, Relos Var ran so hot either he existed in a state of permanent spontaneous combustion or … he wasn’t human at all.

Qown had no idea what it meant.

Several others in the palace emitted similar heat spikes. The old woman who trained the bears ran hotter than anyone but Relos Var, as did, curiously, a polar bear cub.

Brother Qown had no explanation for the heat differences, but he noted them all down for later usage. If nothing else, knowing this made it easier to find those people later—important information indeed.

But in using the stone to hone his abilities, he made two more surprising discoveries. He first discovered that Worldhearth allowed him to cast spells through whatever heat source he scried.