Khao'khen read Sakh'arran's message in the Arch's research chamber with Rakh'ash'tha and Aliyah present. He read it once, then folded it, set it down, and sat with it for a moment before he spoke.
"The settlement at the confluence," he said. "Sakh'arran found it in the Ironbeard records. A functioning orcish city of four thousand people, documented two hundred and eighty years ago in the valley where Yohan now stands."
Aliyah had gone still with the specific quality of a person who has just had a hypothesis confirmed that they had not wanted confirmed.
"The Period Three survey found them thriving," Khao'khen continued. "Forty years later, the Period Four survey found the settlement empty. Structures intact. No evidence of abandonment by choice, by force, by disease, or by disaster. The surveyor added one personal note: they did not stay the night."
He looked at her. "When was this, relative to the Arch?"
