Julius ran his fingers along the stone, slow and deliberate.
The surface was cool beneath his touch, too even in places where weather should have scarred it.
Wind and rain carved at rock with patience, but they did not leave planes this flat, edges this subtly intentional.
Nature would indeed cause erosion, but without water such a smooth surface such as these was not natural to say the least.
Serena finished filling the waterskins from a dribbling stream of water falling from above, and watched him from a few paces back, her expression thoughtful rather than impatient.
"You've found what your looking for?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Someone tried very hard to make this look like nothing."
He stepped back, letting his eyes unfocus slightly, taking in the slope as a whole rather than its details.
The way the rock face angled inward.
How loose scree gathered unnaturally along the base, as though it had been encouraged to settle there.
