The group walked for what should have been most of a day, though the sky never once changed to prove it.
The grey-gold light stayed exactly where it was, never rising, never sinking. The river fell away behind them. The violet trees thinned out into open land. They walked toward the strange, too-even mountains, because even shapes meant something had made them, and something that made things might have answers.
Erix kept the brand turning slowly above his palm as they went. Every so often, he let it spread out wide, sending the hunter's sense across the land, and every time it came back with nothing but distance. The world was too large, and his power was too new. But he kept trying anyway.
"Anything?" Rin asked, walking close beside him.
"Not yet." He closed his hand. "But it reaches a little farther each time."
"Then it is working," she said, and bumped his arm. "Keep at it."
