lesser side halls. Finally, Telarian's personal chamber. The door was closed. She knocked.
No answer.
'Cynosure, please tell me where I can find my fellow Keeper.'
'He is in the Epoch Chamber.'
'The what?'
'Some months ago, Telarian completed construction, with my aid, of a chamber designed to focus his precognitive talent.'
The abjurer blinked. 'Why didn't I know about this?'
'The chamber lies just beyond the limits of Stardeep's Inner Bastion.'
'So it is also outside my concern, is that what you're implying? Everything in Stardeep is my concern, Cynosure!' Her earlier worries about the sentient idol's faculties woke again.
'Would you like me to connect you?' Cynosure volunteered.
'You said this new chamber lies beyond the limits of the Inner Bastion. How-'
'It is close enough for me to transport you. It has no entrance or exit besides me.'
Just like the Well, she realized.
'Yes, Cynosure. Warn Telarian I'm on my way, then connect me.'
A parabola of blue light spun out of nothing, engulfing her. Her stomach lurched and darkness descended. She blinked, and her eyes readjusted. She stood within a small dome.
The floor was scribed with a star-in-circle configuration she recognized from old texts-a predictive tool prized by diviners. The floor gently rolled and pitched in an unsettling manner, as if floating on liquid. Telarian reclined at the star's center, staring at her, surprise evident on his face.
'Delphe!'
'Why, hello, Telarian. I see you've been delving new chambers within Stardeep?' She tried to keep her voice light, but was mostly unsuccessful.
Telarian raised himself to a sitting position then stood. His features resumed their normally placid countenance.
He said, 'As you can see.' He gestured around. 'I find the Epoch Chamber helps concentrate my talents.'
'Ah-so Cynosure informed me. And have you learned anything useful?' She gazed down at the smaller symbols scribed around the circle's periphery and at the slowly burning incense sticks.
He squinted at her, a yearning expression briefly inhabiting his face. Then he smiled ruefully. 'Not yet. But if I can look forward far enough, I can foresee all potential escape attempts by the Traitor. Once I know of them, I can eradicate each and every possibility from the time stream.'
Her eyes widened. 'Is that possible?'
He shrugged. 'So I hope.'
'The Traitor tried today-I would have told you earlier, but I couldn't find you. Did you foresee that?'
'He tried today?'
'Yes-your new chamber didn't foresee it?'
Telarian considered, frowning. Then he said, 'It did not. But then, it wouldn't, would it? You obviously foiled the effort.'
'But he mounted a genuine, credible effort! If I hadn't stemmed the attempt. . what good is your early warning chamber if-'
He put up a hand. 'Why should I focus on escape attempts already destined to be foiled by our efforts? Interference in such events, already predetermined to proceed one way, could finish far differently. No, I'm looking for instances of probability where the Traitor successfully breaks free of all our containment efforts.'
Delphe blinked. 'Successfully?'
'Yes. If I can identify those instances, how ever far in the future, I can take steps right now in the present to make certain those circumstances fail to develop and materialize.'
Delphe put a hand to the side of her head. Telarian's voice seemed so matter of fact, so rational. But the meanings behind the words he spoke seemed unbound by reason. She spoke out, 'How far do you look?'
He smiled. A note of pride crept into his voice as he explained. 'Before I crafted this chamber, I could see only moments, perhaps days at most. Now I can see years. The misty edges of a century ahead are becoming clear to me. .'
Telarian broke off, frowning.
'And you've seen. . what?'
He plied her with another gauging look. Finally he said, 'I've seen worrying images. .'
She grasped his shoulder, squeezing. 'What? What did you see?'
He frowned again, said, 'I'm too close to the edge of temporal resolution; I can't be sure. I'm working to increase the clarity of that vision so the details will firm up.'
'You must have seen something-I can tell by your expression you hold something back. From your fellow Keeper!'
'Delphe, until I could be relatively certain, I didn't want to commit all of Stardeep to a plan that might be unnecessary. I-'
She squeezed harder. 'Describe the images you saw.'
He swallowed, then spoke. 'Alliances. The Traitor retains alliances with those outside Stardeep, outside even the hidden realm of Sild?yuir. I've seen visions of wood elves unearthing old tomes, old journals, and becoming ensnared. But the seeds of corruption have already been cast, or soon will be. If we do not act in relatively short order, I fear that wood elves will find this cache.'
Delphe released Telarian's arm and stepped back. She said, 'You are certain?'
'No, not certain. But I am making preparations, gathering resources, sending out agents.'
'Is that why you sent Empyrean Knights across the Causeway?'
His eyes narrowed but he nodded in agreement. 'Yes, that's right. I sent them to reconnoiter a wood elf encampment established a fair distance from the Causeway. If the Knights reach the secret cache I saw in my vision first, the wood elves will never know the soul-corrupting danger they were saved from unearthing.'
'Telarian, once more, explain why you've learned so much, taken so much upon yourself, without informing me.'
Now it was his turn to grasp her shoulder, but she pushed him back. She considered asking Telarian to explain the significance of Brathtar's strange summons, but decided to keep that information in reserve.
Telarian paused, said, 'If this all turns out to be a mad fancy, I wouldn't want to waste your time and thought on it. You're the Keeper of the Inner Bastion, the Watcher of the Well. Your duties are immediate and vital.'
'But-'
'Trust me, Delphe. If this reconnaissance mission to the wood elf encampment confirms any of my visions, however slight, I shall instantly and immediately inform you. That was and remains my plan. Please don't make more of this than what it is-a foray to gather information, and perhaps to save a few elves from their own curiosity-nothing more.'
A thought struck Delphe. 'The appearance of strange elves in the armor of the Empyrean Knights could reveal the presence of Stardeep to the wood elf encampment.'
The old twinkle returned to Telarian's eyes as he explained. 'The Knights are not unskilled in woodcraft. They are abroad to observe only, not interact. Anyhow, Brathtar may not have to go anywhere near the village to find the cache.'
Powdery snow accumulated across boughs, between pine needles, and across saplings and the dark ground under the great boles. Bit by bit through the night, it formed a curving white blanket covering the sleeping forest.
When Janesta Leafgrace emerged from her double-hide pavilion, she laughed as she shook the snow out of her hair that plopped down from above. She breathed in the crisp air that came with the newly laid covering. After snowfall, the woods took on the aspect of a fey wonderland that called her to explore a terrain transformed. Without disturbing anyone in her pavilion who reclined in remembering trances, she was away.
