Aleck had been quiet the whole walk, staring at the ground as if daring it to tell him something. Now he paused at a fallen cedar and crouched, slowly pulling at a twist of vines that had caught beneath the bark.
"Hold," he said. They gathered.
Pinned beneath the cedar's weight was a scrap of fabric. It was smooth, pale, almost pearlescent. When Aleck tugged it free, a thin seam of light ran across it like an eyelid opening. The same circle-and-line sigil sat stitched at the corner, half torn by the snag.
"That's it," Aerin whispered. "The bubble's weave mark. Identical."
Auron touched it. The thread went black for a breath, then faded. "Dual resonance. Light stitched to dark so they reinforce. That's why the bubble swallowed fire. That's why water didn't warp it. It was balanced."
Darenn's mouth flattened. "Balanced, and stronger than anything students should be playing with." He looked at Aleck. "Where exactly?"
