The first step of the staircase made no sound beneath Elara's foot. Stone made sound. Metal made sound. Wood, if old enough, groaned. But this step said nothing. As if what she had stepped on was not matter, but a memory that had been silenced long ago.
Arven's voice remained beside her ear. "Vessels do not write their own sentences."
Elara had said, "I am more than a vessel."
That sentence did not disappear into the darkness. It flowed down the edges of the staircase, then touched the writing on each step. Some of the letters in the sentence Order corrects error trembled. For an instant, the word error faded, but it returned immediately.
Rowan was not behind her. He was beside her.
Even though the staircase of the Record Core was narrow, Rowan's presence did not crowd Elara. The witness line was connected to the orange ring on her wrist, but the line did not pull her. It only reminded her that the path was real.
