Nobody slept much.
At first light, the group gathered before the bridge again, and found the new section exactly as it had risen the night before — solid, unmoving, extending further into the mist than it had at any point since the stones first began appearing. The mist itself had thinned. Not vanished. Simply grown willing, it seemed, to reveal a little more of what lay beyond it than it had the day before.
The silhouette that had sat beneath the enormous tree was no longer visible.
Only the tree remained, vast and quiet in the distance, its shape the one solid thing the thinning mist allowed through.
The gardener studied the bridge for a long time before speaking.
"It is waiting for witnesses," he said finally.
"Is it complete?" Sarya asked.
He smiled, gentle and unhurried. "It is complete enough."
Sarya took a single step, without ceremony, without calling on the Nexus or reaching for anything beyond the simple act of walking.
A stone rose beneath her foot.
